Charlie Hunnam, known by many as Jax Teller on FX’s Sons of Anarchy, has dropped out of film adaptation of 50 Shades of Grey. Hunnam, who was slated to play the titular BDSM-enthusiast and CEO Christian Grey, has dropped out officially because of his “immersive TV schedule which is not allowing him time to adequately prepare for the role” according to a statement issued by Universal. Several celebrity gossip blogs are reporting that his dropping out had deeper causes, including the unconfirmed notion one anonymous source gave that “he was feeling like it would be his version of Showgirls and he didn’t want to be remembered for that” as reported by hollywoodlife.com. Dakota Johnson (21 Jump Street, The Social Network) will still star as the film’s heroine, Anastasia Steele.

His personal reluctance, if the rumors are to be believed, is understandable given the high public profile that E.L James’s Fifty Shades trilogy has enjoyed since the first book’s release in 2011 and since the movie adaptation was announced in March of 2012. The trilogy chronicles the every-woman college student Anastasia Steele’s kinky relationship with wealthy Christian Grey as it deepens and convolutes over the three-book cycle.

The trilogy is often labeled as “mommy porn” for its graphic and nearly constant BDSM scenes, a legacy that has prompted much speculation on how the movie adaptation will depict the two protagonists’ relationship and the near-constant stream of smut that engulfs it. Following Hunnam’s departure, fan activism focused on what actor will replace Hunnam in that role has given way to a potential shortlist from Universal for the character.

The list, released by The Hollywood Reporter, includes Alexander Skarsgard (True Blood), Jamie Dornan (Marie Antionette, The Fall), Theo James (Golden Boy), and Christian Cooke (Magic City) as potential replacements for Hunnan. Garrett Hedlund (Tron: Legacy, On the Road), who had apparently received an informal offer during the initial round of casting is unavailable to play the role due to his participation in Unbroken, Angelina Jolie’s film about Olympic runner Louis Zamperini’s imprisonment by Japanese forces during World War II. A fan petition seeking to instate Matt Bomer (White Collar) as Grey and Alexis Bledel as Steele has reached 88,650 signatures on change.org, but it is unconfirmed whether Bomer at least is officially in the running.

Not many comments have been made about how great all of this casting intrigue will be for promoting the Fifty Shades movie, and given that most reports take as given that the next two “Fifty Shades“ books will also have movie adaptations, whoever takes the role will no doubt return for the other two and will have the trilogy as one of the hallmarks of his career. The film is still set to be released on August 1^st of 2014, which means that new developments on the casting will be coming quickly if the studio wants to keep the film on track for production.

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In a move to delight the singer’s tween audience, enrage readers of books, and generally boost box office returns, Taylor Swift has been cast in the movie adaptation of The Giver, Lois Lowry’s Newberry Medal winning 1993 children’s novel about a frightening dystopian future disguised as a utopia where pain has been eliminated along with emotional depth and memory. Although given that subject matter, Swift’s casting would seem to make sense. Director Phillip Noyce and The Weinstein Company have probably chosen Swift to boost box office returns and slowly chip away at a pillar of your childhood.

The seminal work, heralded ignorantly by Teen Vogue as “the original Hunger Games”, stars Jeff Bridges as the titular character, a community’s living receptacle of all emotion and memory as he trains a precocious youth to take over the role, Jonas (Brenton Thwaites, who will also star in Disney’s upcoming film Malificent in 2014). As you can imagine, things go wrong and the boy and his mentor fight the system in a tale with themes – Contentment vs. Integrity, the Great Society vs. Individual – meaty enough for most middle schools to assign the book to their students. Meryl Streep, Katie Holmes, Odeya Rush, Alexandar Skarsgard and Cameron Monaghan round out the cast.

Harvey Weinstein said of the production that, “We could not have assembled a more impressive cast for this project behind Lois Lowry’s beautiful novel and the directorial talents of Phil Noyce, and are tremendously excited to commence production,” set to begin on October 7th in Cape Town, South Africa.  Neither Weinstein or Noyce, who’s directing credits include Salt and Patriot Games, have commented on whether Swift will show up in the soundtrack as well, although the rumor mill is giving it pretty good odds.
           

It’s pretty ironic that in a work, which is opposed to sameness and uniform contentment, Noyce and his producers have made no breaks from the norm casting-wise to make this film. Whether it’s contempt for the tween audience The Giver adaptation is marketed to, or the producer’s blatant attempt at raking in the dough at the cost of the source material’s integrity, there are plenty of reasons to dislike this move. Given that it’s part of an increasing trend of pillaging school reading lists for movie ideas, it makes you hope that Weinstein & Co. don’t discover “Animal Farm”, “Lord of the Flies”, or any more childhood favorites to sell to today’s young adults.
 
The Giver is directed by Phillip Noyce and stars Jeff Bridges, Brenton Thwaites, Meryl Streep, Katie Holmes, Odeya Rush, Alexandar Skarsgard and Cameron Monaghan. It hit theaters August 15, 2014.

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Leonardo DiCaprio may have taken on a high profile biopic role or two before in his back – to varying success – but it seems as if the A-list actor is still keen to do more. After making a comment about retiring some months back, Leo seems to be as hardworking as ever and this time has set his sights on a Presidential biopic about the 28th American President, Woodrow Wilson. Most known for signing the Treaty of Versailles and helping form the League of Nations, Wilson just recently re-entered the spotlight due to a hotly debated biography from A. Scott Berg.

For all of his talent and the plenitude of captivating performances DiCaprio has put in, he’s only been nominated for an Academy Award twice. Once for his depiction of aviation tycoon Howard Hughes in Martin Scorsese‘s The Aviator and once for his South African diamond-smuggling-antihero in Blood Diamond. Once thought to be an easy Oscar lock, his turn in Clint Eastwood‘s J. Edgar ended up avoiding any nomination and skirted around most award recognition at all.

But if Steven Spielberg‘s Lincoln is any indication of the draw of a presidential biopic in the 2010s, it’s safe to say that the combination of a strong performance and good source material is sure to draw audiences in en masse. For now, nothing is set in stone. I figure I’ll gauge my interest going forward depending on what other talent ends up getting involved.