Despite the movie making it big and raking in millions at the box office, the director of "Fifty Shades of Grey" struggled for a year and lost confidence over her work on the film. Sam Taylor-Johnson said in a recent interview that if she could only turn back the time, then she would not have done the movie at all.
Sam Taylor-Johnson told The Sunday Times that she encountered constant difficulties working with "Fifty Shades" trilogy author EL James during the course of filming the first movie. It was no secret that the two clashed on the set as their conflict was highly publicized in the press.
Sam Taylor-Johnson said she was confused about her working relationship with EL James, who reportedly wanted more control over the production. The conflict caused delays on the set as the author allegedly demanded things her way. From then on, the director decided she will not be directing the sequels nor will she even consider watching them.
"I have literally zero interest," she said. "Would I go through it again? Of course, I wouldn't. I'd be mad!"
Friendships and box office success
Working on “Fifty Shades,” however, wasn’t all bad for the director. She and the film stars, Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson ended becoming good friends in real life.
Despite the conflict with EL James, Sam Taylor-Johnson went on to break box office records for “Fifty Shades of Grey.” When the film came out in February 2015, she shattered records and became the first female director to land on top of the box office.
This record, however, was recently broken by director Patty Jenkins for “Wonder Woman.”
Recovering after a year
Not likely to call her experience a "regret," however, Sam Taylor-Johnson told Vogue that it took her a year to recover professionally and regain confidence to go back to work. "It gave me a very dark head-space that I needed time to recover from," the director said.
"It really knocked me sideways."
On her return, the director did the Netflix series "Gypsy," which stars Naomi Watts. The 10-part psychological thriller will debut on the streaming site on Friday, June 30.
As for the "Fifty Shades" films, the third installment, "Fifty Shades Freed," will be running in theaters in 2018. The cast and crew filmed this simultaneously with the second movie, "Fifty Shades Darker." James Foley took over as director.
EJ James, meanwhile, has not responded to the director's latest interviews as of press time.
