'Fifty Shades of Grey' screenwriter contenders 'down to four'

Published Aug 8 2012, 10:51 BST  |  By Emma Dibdin

Fifty Shades of Grey's producers have reportedly narrowed their list of potential screenwriters down to four.

Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti, who co-produced David Fincher's The Social Network, are considering three female and one male screenwriter for the job of adapting EL James's erotic best seller, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The four contenders are Dan Fogelman, Veena Sud, Karen Croner and Kelly Marcel.

Fogelman's recent script credits include Ryan Gosling romantic comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love, Disney animation Tangled and Disney-Pixar sequel Cars 2.

Sud is best known for developing and executive producing the US remake of The Killing for AMC.

Croner wrote the script for upcoming Tina Fey and Michael Sheen comedy Admission, which is due for release next year, but her last credit before that was for 1998's One True Thing.

Marcel served as a writer and executive producer on short-lived Fox series Terra Nova, and was also credited as a script editor on Drive helmer Nicolas Winding Refn's 2008 film Bronson.

American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis has been publicly lobbying for the screenwriting job via Twitter, but was officially removed from the shortlist as of this week.

Rumours relating to the two lead roles of Christian Grey and Ana Steele have been widespread, but no official indication has been given that the producers are close to the casting stage.

Digital Spy readers recently voted for Ian Somerhalder and Emilia Clarke as their top choices to play sadistic billionaire Christian and innocent college graduate Ana.