Fifty Shades of Grey was a legitimate phenomenon when it hit theaters earlier this year. We're not talking about just the United States, either. The sexy drama pulled in over $570 million around the globe, drawing in big crowds pretty much every where it turned up. (Just for comparison's sake, that's more money than Ant-Man made around the world.)
Naturally, sequel talk was well underway (it helps that there are already more books in the series to adapt), but it hit a bit of a snag since director Sam Taylor-Johnson and screenwriter Kelley Marcel announced they wouldn't be returning for Fifty Shades Darker. We already knew Niall Leonard, husband of Fifty Shades author E L James, was going to write the new movies, but now The Wrap tells us who will be taking over the director's chair: James Foley.
Foley's name may not be an instant bell ringer, but he fits the bill here nicely. Universal Pictures chairman Donna Langley said earlier this year that Fifty Shades Darker was going to be "more of a thriller," and since Foley directed the Halle Berry murder mystery Perfect Stranger and 1996's Fear, we think he's up to the job. In particular, Fear seems right in the Fifty Shades Darker wheelhouse since it was about a young man (Mark Wahlberg) who becomes a little too obsessed with his new girlfriend (played by Reese Witherspoon).
Foley doesn't just have a thriller background, though. He also directed the 1992 classic Glengarry Glen Ross, the Sean Penn-led, small-town drama At Close Range, and even the music video for Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach." In recent years he's turned to TV, directing episodes of Hannibal, Wayward Pines and, most prolifically, House of Cards. It's that last show that likely really helped Foley land the job, as it's from Fifty Shades producer Dana Brunetti.
Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan will of course be returning as Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey. They'll be filming the next two movies back-to-back, with Fifty Shades Darker hitting theaters on February 10, 2017 and then Fifty Shades Freed landing on February 9, 2018.
