Stars Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan attend the UK Premiere their film Fifty Shades Of Grey. Photo / Getty
Stars Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan attend the UK Premiere their film Fifty Shades Of Grey. Photo / Getty
E. L. James is thinking about turning her best-selling Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy into a musical, according to The Sun.
The S&M-themed novels, renowned for their raunchy bondage scenes but mocked by some for being badly written, have already inspired a series of film adaptations (the second instalment, Fifty Shades Darker, is released next month) and a spin-off novel, Grey.
"There has been massive hype around the books and producers know that the stage adaptation will sell out in minutes," an unnamed "theatre insider" told the newspaper (whose article, to give credit where credit is due, is headlined "How do you solve a problem like sore rear?").
"Theatre bosses have been in talks with E.L and although these things can take years to plan they know it will be a big success.
"It could be the sort of thing that hen parties will flock to with all the steamy scenes and tourists will love it too."
James's books, the first of which has sold over 125 million copies, were inspired by the teen vampire romance of the Twilight series, which she first encountered in 2008.
"Just after Christmas, I sat down and read the books, and I escaped for five days. I just loved them," she later revealed. "It's just such a fabulous love story. I read them and reread them and reread them. And on the 15th of January I sat down to write an original book for the first time ever."
James originally released her first novel online, where it quickly attracted a wide following and later found a home with a publisher.
E.L. James signs copies of '50 Shades of Grey' as the film is released at Westfield London on February 17, 2015. Photo / Getty
A 2015 film adaptation of the author's first book, starring Dakota Johnson as naive student Anna and Jamie Dornan as billionaire Christian Grey, took more than $500 million at the global box office.
While it received a mixed reaction from critics, The Telegraph's Tim Robey was won over, describing it as an example of how "barely-literate junk can turn into something ripe and even electric on screen".
The film was directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, who has since left the franchise, and written by Kelly Marcel (who also helped write the acclaimed 2013 Disney film Saving Mr Banks).
Fifty Shades Darker, in contrast, is directed by James Foley, from a script by James's screenwriter husband Niall Leonard.
