Red meets the woman behind the year’s most highly anticipated movie, Fifty Shades of Grey, in an exclusive interview …

Sam Taylor-Johnson is negotiating a sea of extension cords as she attempts to enter the garden of LA’s Chateau Marmont hotel. At 47 and a mother of four, there is no fuss about her. And, as she fixes me with her soulful, steely gaze, no messing, either.

The only visible insignia that sets Sam Taylor-Johnson aside from any other make-up-free mother the morning  is that her hair is pink. ‘Ah, yes,’ she says tugging at it. ‘This happened the day before yesterday when I was feeling the only thing I have control over is my hair. The only final cut I have is the hair cut.’ Fetching as it is, the ‘cut’ of her hair is a statement because she is, of course, the director of the hugely anticipated Fifty Shades of Grey, and her editing is still a work in progress. It’s a process she’s convinced will still be happening an hour prior to the film’s release.

‘I’m literally going out of my mind,’ she says. ‘I have seen this film over a thousand times and I’m now in a blancmange. But the nuances within – the tiniest shift, look, blink of an eye – can make all the difference and flip it into the wrong territory. It’s like walking a knife edge.’

A Woman’s Touch

Whether you’ve read the books or not, Fifty Shades of Grey immediately became a more interesting film when it was announced that Taylor-Johnson was directing it. It was material that should always have been in the hands of a woman. And knowing Taylor-Johnson’s body of work, it makes total sense that she saw off Joe Wright, Steven Soderbergh and Gus Van Sant to secure directing the film version of the fastest-selling paperback of all time.

A graduate of Goldsmiths College, London, Sam Taylor-then-Wood established herself as a photographer and video artist in the 1990s. Alongside contemporaries Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst, her living portraits explored human vulnerability and sexuality with humour and self-awareness.

Guilty Pleasure?

With Sam Taylor’s track record, she was the logical directorial choice. She is used to doing sensuality with her previous jobs in photograph and films. She is the perfect person to make sure the feminist within us doesn’t jump on her high horse.

Literary merits aside, women the world over embraced the tale of graduate ingénue Anastasia Steele being sexually educated by business magnate Christian Grey. Eroticism went mainstream and had millions of us in its thrall. We may have been embarrassed by the ‘oh my!’ of it all and the cringey moniker ‘Mommy Porn’, but it introduced many of us – me included – to BDSM (Bondage/Dominance/Sadism/Masochism). And no, Taylor-Johnson didn’t know the term either. All in all, it was a vicarious sexy read, even if you were hiding it inside a copy of the Guardian (or in my case, a slipcover of Tess Of The d’Urbervilles).

The Artist At Work

Today, Taylor-Johnson says her health is ‘pretty good, thanks’. But look to her art and you can see her anguish. Her famous photographic portraits, Crying Men, shot between 2002 and 2004, depicts 28 actors, from Daniel Craig to Paul Newman, weeping. It was something she admits they were doing for her. ‘I did it as an exorcism of tears,’ she says of the piece, ‘from not having cried through being ill. I almost never cry, and it’s something I don’t like about myself.’

Taylor-Johnson’s ability to put genuine emotion and raw life into her work bodes well for Fifty Shades. Devotees can rest assured that the director is staying true to the book. ‘I’ve practically eaten it,’ she tells me. ‘I have read it over and over. More than any other book ever. I had it on set with me the whole time. I have it in the edit room now.’

She says she did her research in every regard. ‘Jamie [Dornan, who plays Christian] and I had to sit and meet various dominants and dominatrix,’ she explains with a wry smile, ‘just to make sure we understood that world, so that we in no way portrayed it incorrectly.’

While we are on the subject of Mr Dornan, I ask if the rumours are true? If, in fact, we don’t quite get to see everything there is to see of her leading man. Her eyes flash, ‘Well, it says no full frontal but…’

Dakota & Jamie…

Of the film’s stars, Taylor-Johnson says, ‘Dakota [Johnson, as Anastasia] is fantastic. She has that rare knit of fragility, vulnerability, naivety, yet she’s really strong. And Jamie’s funny because he doesn’t seem to feel any of the pressure. Or show he feels it. Everything washes over him and he’s constantly happy. He’s such a sweet and lovely man.’

Jamie Dornan speaks equally highly of his director. ‘Sam has this amazing ability to evoke calmness in the face of madness,’ he says. ‘It’s a very handy skill to possess as a director, and as a human being in general. She’s also got a fierce wit and is extremely funny, which is very useful to help cope with the ridiculousness of film-making. Sam is now one of my favourite people on the planet.’

What perhaps neither cast nor director anticipated was the microscopic scrutiny that the film would be under. Taylor-Johnson has not even been allowed to screen her rough cut to friends and family (husband Aaron has a cameo in it) and yet the film has taken over her life. She was offered the job in June 2013 and says, ‘The moment I stepped out of the meeting, I stepped on to one of those bullet trains. The doors closed and I couldn’t get off. The speed, the velocity, was unbelievable. I need to get off and breathe and think about something else.’

There is a whole lot more to read in the article. This is just a little taste. Director Sam Taylor-Johnson is to be commended for all of her hard work and longs hours. It seems that she won’t be done editing until they first release the movie. We know that she will do the book justice. She is staying as true to it as possible, and in this woman’s eyes that is fantastic. The dedication and long hours have not gone unnoticed. We here and Everything Jamie Dornan love you Sam Taylor-Johnson and can’t wait to see what journey you take us on with Fifty Shades of Grey!!

Read the entire article here.