If Joe Wright Directs ‘Shades of Grey,’ Does that Mean Keira Knightly Will Play Anastasia Steele?

Ever since Universal Studios and Focus Features acquired the rights to the Fifty Shades of Grey, that wildly popular series of novels by E.L. James responsible for making literary chick porn as mainstream and horny teenaged vampires, speculation has been running rampant as to who will play the lead characters. Meanwhile, the more important question—who will direct—has been relatively ignored.

Today, however, the question of who will direct the film adaptation of Fifty Shades takes center stage with the rumors that Universal and Focus are considering director Joe Wright for the gig.

Wright, of course, has made a career out of directing Keira Knightly in period pieces such as Pride & Prejudice and, most recently, Anna Karenina. However, the film most responsible for Wright's candidacy for the Fifty Shades gig would have to be Atonement, yet another period film starring Knightly which just so happens to feature a rather steamy and artfully shot love scene:

Obviously, if Fifty Shades of Grey is going to make big bucks at the box office, it's going to have to look all classy like this so all the soccer moms don't feel like pervs for going to see it on a weekday. So I'd say that makes Wright the leading candidate for the job.

H/T – [Hollywood Reporter]