‘Fifty Shades’ Inspired By ‘Twilight’: Anastasia Steele Is Actually Bella Swan?
Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga inspired E.L. James to write the story of Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey. James recently talked about her inclination towards Meyer’s Twilight saga and the fifth book in Fifty Shades series, which she is currently writing.
During E.L. James’ recent interview with News.com.au, the best-selling author said the whole idea behind the Fifty Shades trilogy began as a response to the Twilight, as it was late in 2008 when she saw the first film featuring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson.
After watching Twilight, she became totally absorbed by the intensity between the two totally different characters, and writing fan-fiction became her choice. In 2009, she finally decided to write the story of a billionaire businessman, Christian Grey, and an innocent girl, Anastasia Steele.
Apparently, this is not for the first time it has been revealed that the idea behind Fifty Shades trilogy actually came from the Twilight saga. The original BDSM erotic trilogy was developed from a Twilight fan-fiction series originally titled Master of the Universe and published episodically on fan-fiction websites under the pen name Snowqueen’s Icedragon. The episodical story featured Edward Cullen and Bella Swan living in a non-vampire world but having similar complexities in their relationship.
It was reported that many readers objected to the sexual nature of the material, which made E.L. James take down the story from the fan-fiction websites and published it on her own website, FiftyShades.com. Later, she rewrote Master of the Universe as an original piece, with the characters renamed as Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele.
Stephenie Meyer commented on the Fifty Shades series, saying, “[T]hat’s really not my genre, not my thing… Good on her—she’s doing well. That’s great!”
“I guess I actually wrote something that I wanted to read, so I am a fan of my own work, I guess. Does that sound terrible?” James said to News.com.au.
The bestselling author also talked about her upcoming book, Grey: Fifty Shades Darker as Told by Christian. James revealed the most important thing about the protagonist, Christian Grey. According to the author, Christian is madly in love with Ana, but “he just doesn’t know it.”
“I am working as we speak on 50 Shades Darker but from Christian’s point of view. Oh, he’s a f***ed-up kid, he really is. I have found my stride with it and it’s an interesting place to be inside Christian’s head.”
In addition to this, there have been talks about Universal Studios adapting the fourth book in the series to make another feature film. As of this writing, it is not officially confirmed whether there will be a new film featuring the same characters, but based on the box-office success of the previous films, there are chances that fans will get to see another movie.
Even if the studio will adapt Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as Told by Christian and Grey: Fifty Shades Darker as Told by Christian into feature films, the chances of Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan reprising their subsequent roles are pretty slim. Dakota, who played Anastasia Steele in all the three films, revealed during an interview that filming sex scenes with BDSM tools were very uncomfortable for her, and after some time, filming those NSFW sex scenes became extremely tedious for her.
“Filming a sex scene is not a sensual or pleasurable environment. It’s really hot — not in a steamy, sexual way. It’s just sweaty and it’s not very comfortable. And on top of that, my hands and legs were tied, and I was blindfolded, and I was being hit with this bizarre tool.”
Fifty Shades Freed is scheduled to release on February 9, 2018. Keep checking this space for the latest trailer of Fifty Shades Freed featuring Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan. Do you think E.L. James will allow the studio to make more films on the characters? Tell us your views in the comments below.
[Featured Image by Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images and Tristan Fewings/Getty Images]
