The casting
for the leads of “50 Shades of Grey” were announced yesterday and
after the initial excitement surrounding the news had worn off the general
reaction was: who the hell are these actors?  I’m not going lie, even I  had to do a double take when I first
saw the names and photos of the actors chosen to play Anastasia Steele and
Christian Grey.  However, just a little bit of research gave me some
answers and well, still left me wondering if these two fit this big ticket
bill.  

The character of Anastasia Steele will
be played by Dakota Johnson: Who?! Right. Well, Dakota comes from a lineage of
Hollywood royalty: Mom is Melanie Griffith and Grandmother is Tippi Hedren,
once a muse/obsession of Alfred Hitchcock, who is most known for her lead in
his cryptic movie “The Birds.”  Granddaughter: Dakota is most
known for her bit role in “The Social Network” as a Stanford student
who has a one-night stand with Justin Timberlake’s character, Sean Parker.
 She certainly is fresh-faced and if she pulls off the role will be at the
helm of a cult classic.  She already has one fan and that’s Mom, Melanie
Griffith, who tweeted: “My beautiful child Dakota has been chosen to play
Anna Steele in 50 Shades!!! Look out world! Here she comes!!! #proudmama.”
 Further confusion: Melanie Griffith tweets?  

In regards to the male lead:
Christian Grey, Charlie Hunnam, is probably even less well-known than Dakota so
he will have his work cut out for him.  The skinny on him is that he’s
British (I love a British accent), made his way through acting by landing bit
roles on British TV shows, once auditioned for “Dawson’s Creek” (for Dawson or
Pacey’s character, that detail is unknown) and he just completed a blockbuster
film entitled “Pacific Rim.”  It seems he has paid his dues in
the acting world and a big blockbuster like 50
Shades could be his ticket to celebrity status.

Could these two be the next dynamic
duo a la Robsten? The movie is just in pre-production and these two actors are
already creating buzz.  What do you think of the casting?