Starz' CEO Chris Albrecht reveals he once pitched a three-season TV series based on E.L. James' erotic novel before the movie adaptation came together.
- Jul 12, 2014
AceShowbiz - "Fifty Shades of Grey" could become a TV series. During Starz's panel at the Television Critics Association summer press tour on Friday, July 11, CEO Chris Albrecht revealed that he once courted a show based on E.L. James' best-selling novel.
"I'm the guy who called up Universal and said, 'I'll get you three years on the air as a series. Let's just do a 'Fifty Shades of Grey' series,' " so he claimed. But the project didn't come to fruition because "movie people think things are movies, and authors think things are movies. Up until recently, movies were the Tiffany jewel in the crown."
The subject was brought up during a discussion about Starz's new series "Outlander", based on a less kinky romance novel by Diana Gabaldon. "If you read the book, this could only be a series," Albrecht said of "Outlander".
"Fifty Shades of Grey" is eventually turned into a feature film with Sam Taylor-Wood serving behind the lens. Jamie Dornan plays the kinky billionaire Christian Grey and Dakota Johnson stars as his love interest Anastasia Steele. The movie is due February 13, 2015 in the United States.
