Kinky ‘Fifty Shades’ stokes fantasy, not reality, says author

LOS ANGELES | E.L. James, the British author and producer of the erotic “Fifty Shades of Grey” novels and film franchise, knows that her story about an attractive couple engaged in a kinky relationship is very much a fantasy.

In the “Fifty Shades” trilogy, Christian Grey is a young handsome billionaire entrepreneur with a penchant for bondage, discipline, dominance, submission and sadomasochism (BDSM) who introduces the beautiful but naive Anastasia “Ana” Steele to his world of whips and sex toys.

“It’s a wish fulfillment piece that you can escape into, you can become Ana, you can see where you can go to with this guy and change him to be a far better human being, and of course, that’s just a fantasy,” James, 53, told Reuters.

James’ trilogy, born out of fan fiction that she had written inspired by young adult vampire love story “Twilight,” has sold more than 150 million copies worldwide since its 2012 release. It became a pop culture phenomenon, making erotic literature mainstream, and spawned a film franchise for Universal Pictures.

The “Fifty Shades of Grey” film, starring Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson, grossed $560 million worldwide in 2015. The sequel, “Fifty Shades Darker,” debuted in theaters on Friday.

After the first film ended with Ana and Christian driven apart because she couldn’t commit to his desires, “Darker” sees the two reconcile, but on her terms. James said Ana is now “empowered and strong” and that it is Christian who finds himself under her spell.

Ana and Christian’s relationship, in which he exhibits controlling and stalker-ish habits, fueled a domestic abuse debate after the books were released. When the first film came out, a grassroots movement urged people to donate to women’s shelters rather than see the film.

“What I find really annoying about these people is that women are entitled to their fantasies too, and it’s a far safer place to explore things in a book,” James said.

“This does not encourage domestic violence, it’s not about domestic violence, they’re completely missing the point – however it’s an important issue so I’m glad it’s out there,” she added.

The film franchise wraps up next year with the release of “Fifty Shades Freed” and James said she’s already written another book exploring a young adult love story – with no sex.

“If you can make people fall in love with your characters and care about them, then that’s a huge achievement,” she said.

source: interaksyon.com

Harry Potter script makes record UK and U.S. sales

LONDON | The script of a new Harry Potter play is achieving record sales in Britain and the U.S., though it is failing to match the popularity of the novels about the young wizard.

“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” has sold more than 680,000 copies in Britain since being published on Sunday, Britain’s highest single week sales of a script this decade.

The popularity of the print version of the play in its first two days made it the biggest-selling hardback at bookseller Waterstones since the 2009 release of Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol”.

“By the end of this first week, we expect to exceed ‘The Lost Symbol’ sales and to match the lifetime sales of our bestselling script book ever, ‘An Inspector Calls’ by J. B. Priestley,” said Kate Skipper, buying director at Waterstones.

“There’s no doubt about it; this will be our biggest book of the year.”

The script of the two-part play, which opened in London’s West End on July 30, recounts the adult life of Harry Potter and his family.

“The Cursed Child” was written by Jack Thorne and directed by John Tiffany, in collaboration with Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling.

In the U.S. and Canada the screenplay sold more than two million copies in the first two days, an “unprecedented” result for a script book according to publisher Scholastic.

Despite the success of the script, initial sales of the book fell far behind those of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”, the seventh and final novel in the series.

Within 24 hours of being released in 2007, “The Deathly Hallows” sold 2.65 million copies in Britain, publisher Bloomsbury said, while Scholastic recorded 8.3 million copies sold in the US.

Globally the seven Harry Potter novels have sold more than 450 million copies since the first book hit the shelves in 1997. The wizard’s adventures have been translated into 79 languages and eight films.

An additional 250,000 tickets of the Harry Potter play are due to go on sale on Thursday, for performances at the Palace Theatre until December 10, 2017.

With speculation that the new play could be taken to Broadway in New York, Rowling said she was enthusiastic about performances abroad.

“I’d love it to go wider than that. I’d like as many Potter fans to see it as possible,” Rowling told journalists at the gala opening.

source: interaksyon.com

First look at Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey

The first frontal photo of British actor Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey has been released online by Universal Pictures and Focus Features, producers of the upcoming film adaptation of E.L. James’ best-selling erotic romance novel series “Fifty Shades of Grey”.

The photo — in which Dornan looks at the camera while wearing a black leather jacket and sitting behind the wheel of a luxury car, presumably an Audi R8 — debuted on the film’s social media pages on Wednesday, June 18, the birthday of his fictional character.

As of Thursday afternoon, the photo had received over 54,000 likes on Facebook and had been retweeted and favorited over 1,700 times on Twitter.

Its release follows a black and white poster that came out in January — a rear view of Dornan as Grey in a suit contemplating the view from atop a skyscraper.

The 32-year-old former Calvin Klein model landed the coveted role of the bondage-loving billionaire in October, one month after the filmmakers’ original choice, “Pacific Rim” star Charlie Hunnam, withdrew from the project due to scheduling conflicts.

Dornan stars opposite Dakota Johnson, who will portray the female protagonist Anastasia Steele, a college senior and virgin whom Grey seduces and inducts into the world of BDSM (bondage, dominance, sadism and masochism).

“Fifty Shades of Grey”, the movie, is set for global release on Valentine’s Day in 2015.

source: interaksyon.com

PH’s obsession with ‘Fault in our Stars’ extends to box office

After Time magazine recently reported that the Philippines is the country that is most obsessed with John Green’s bestselling novel, “The Fault in our Stars”, expectations ran high that the film adaptation will do just as well in the box office here.

Based on gross receipts of its four-day opening weekend, the romantic comedy-drama about two cancer-stricken teenagers did very well, earning P52 million to add to its current worldwide take of over $65 million according to Box Office Mojo. It was made for only $12 million.

Considering that the film is targeted specifically for young adult audiences and is showing in only 137 cinemas, which is a fraction of the 400 screens that showed “X-Men: Days of Future Past”, this makes the early returns of “Fault” all the more remarkable.

Because of its strong Filipino fan base which trounces the following of both the book and the film in the U.S., Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, India, and Spain, a good number of local fans have reportedly watched the film not just twice but as many as four times.

Word-of-mouth and positive critical acclaim also didn’t hurt. “Fault” currently has an 83 percent approval rating at review aggregator site, Rotten Tomatoes; CinemaScore gave it an A rating on an A+ to F scale while it scored a 69 out of 100 score on Metacritic indicating “generally favorable reviews”.

With sold out tickets on its first day in the Philippines, it was Ayala Malls Cinemas’ Trinoma that landed the top spot among theaters with a P2.3 million gross followed by SM North Edsa/The Block (P2.13M), Glorietta4 (P1.9M); SM Mall of Asia (P1.8M) and SM Megamall (P1.6M).

The film also recorded highs in the following cinemas that are within the film’s top 20 list – Ayala Cebu (P1.6M); Eastwood (P1.5M); Greenbelt (P 1.4M); Powerplant (P 1.35M); Shang Cineplex (P1.31M); SM Cebu (P1.29M); Greenhills TheatreMall (P1.28M); Gateway Cineplex/Ali Mall (P1.22M); Alabang Town Center (P1.1M); Robinson’s Magnolia (P.916M); Robinson’s Ermita (P.888M); SM Southmall (P.842M); Bonifacio High Street (P.788M); Newport (P.776M); Festival (P.726M) and Market!Market! (P.723M).

Starring Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort as the two teenagers who meet at a cancer support group and immediately form a powerful bond, “The Fault in our Stars” also boasts of a strong supporting cast that include Laura Dern, Nat Wolff, Sam Trammell and Willem Dafoe.

From 20th Century Fox and distributed by Warner Bros, the film is still showing in more than 100 screens nationwide.

source: interaksyon.com

Nobel Prize-winning British author Doris Lessing dies aged 94

LONDON - British author Doris Lessing, whose powerful feminist and anti-colonial writing won her the Nobel Literature Prize, died on Sunday at the age of 94.

The author's longtime agent and friend Jonathan Clowes said Lessing had died peacefully at her London home in the early hours of the morning.

"She was a wonderful writer with a fascinating and original mind," Clowes said.

"It was a privilege to work for her and we shall miss her immensely."

Best known for the 1962 novel "The Golden Notebook" which is today considered a landmark feminist work, Lessing became the oldest winner of the Nobel Literature Prize in 2007.

She penned more than 50 novels ranging from political critiques to science fiction -- many of them inspired by her own experiences of a lonely childhood in Africa and involvement in radical leftist politics.

She was out grocery shopping when she was announced as the winner of the Nobel Literature Prize, and only found out when she returned home to find journalists swarming on her doorstep.

Her reaction was a characteristic: "Oh, Christ."

Nicholas Pearson, her editor at HarperCollins, said Lessing's life and career had been "a great gift to world literature".

"She wrote across a variety of genres and made an enormous cultural impact," he said in a statement.

"Even in very old age she was always intellectually restless, reinventing herself, curious about the changing world around us, always completely inspirational. We'll miss her hugely."

Charlie Redmayne, CEO of HarperCollins UK, said Lessing was "a compelling storyteller with a fierce intellect and a warm heart".

Tributes poured in for the writer on Twitter, while the Swedish author Per Wastberg pronounced her "one of the world's greatest contemporary writers".

"At an advanced age, she wrote some very beautiful works," Wastberg told the Swedish news agency TT.

"I think her books will pass into posterity."

Lessing published her first novel "The Grass Is Singing" in 1950. She went on to pen operas, short stories and two plays as well as dozens of other novels, including several science fiction works.

On granting her the Nobel Literature Prize, the Swedish Academy praised the "scepticism, fire and visionary power" with which she had examined her own society.

Among the other awards she has won are the Prix Medicis in 1976 and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in 1995.

Born in what is now Iran in 1919, Lessing was raised by British parents in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. She taught herself from the age of 13 by reading authors such as Dickens and Tolstoy.

After running away from her second husband and moving to Britain in 1949, she became involved in the British Communist Party but resigned in 1956 at the time of the Hungarian uprising.

She became an increasingly outspoken critic of corruption and embezzlement by African governments and repeatedly used her razor-sharp writing to attack colonialism.

She was barred entry to South Africa in 1956, but was finally able to revisit in 1995, after the fall of apartheid.

Twice divorced, Lessing is survived by a daughter and two granddaughters.

source: interaksyon.com

28-year-old female author from New Zealand wins Man Booker Prize

WELLINGTON - New Zealand Prime Minister John Key led tributes Wednesday to author Eleanor Catton after her novel "The Luminaries" won the Man Booker Prize, describing it as a "truly amazing achievement."

Catton, 28, became the youngest Booker winner and only the second New Zealander to claim the prestigious prize for fiction, after Keri Hulme's "The Bone People" won in 1985.

"This is a hugely significant achievement on the world stage for a New Zealander," Key said in a statement, adding that Catton's youth made the win "even more extraordinary."

"This will be a tremendous boost for young New Zealanders in the arts and is a testament to the obvious talent and hard work of Eleanor Catton."

Catton's publisher Fergus Barrowman of Victoria University Press praised the Booker judges for selecting the 832-page doorstopper, the longest novel to ever win the prize.

He said it was a "big, ambitious book written by a fearlessly intelligent and talented writer" that would help lift the profile of other New Zealand authors.

"It's fantastic, you can sort of hear the doors creaking open ... a success like this is a reminder that books can come from anywhere," he told Radio New Zealand.

"Often the most interesting, the freshest and most lively books come from outside the main centers, it's going to do a great deal for other New Zealand writers."

Catton told the New Zealand Listener magazine this month that her second novel took three years to write and another two to research.

The Auckland-based writer said she had considered how the £50,000 ($80,000) winner's cheque and global exposure presented by the prize could change her life.

"What a sum of money this size means is that essentially it's a temptation to leave behind an earlier version of yourself," she said.

"But it's a treacherous temptation because obviously we can't do that at all."

There was also some amusement among New Zealanders that Canada had been quick to claim Catton as their own.

She was born in Ontario while her father, a Kiwi academic, was completing a doctorate at the University of Western Ontario, then moved to New Zealand at age six.

"I feel very much a New Zealander," she told Fairfax Media last week.

source: interaksyon.com

J.K. Rowling announces Harry Potter spin-off movie series

LONDON - Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is to make her screenwriting debut by penning a series of spin-off films set in the magical world of the British boy wizard, she announced on Thursday, putting her in line for another huge payday.

The first film will be called "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" and will be based on a textbook of the same name used by Harry and his classmates at their school Hogwarts, Rowling said on her Facebook page.

Set in New York and featuring magical zoologist Newt Scamander -- the author of Harry's textbook -- it will be set 70 years before the events of the core Potter novels.

The Warner Bros. film comes two years after the final movie in the eight-part series spawned by her phenomenally successful novels.

"I always said that I would only revisit the wizarding world if I had an idea that I was really excited about and this is it," the 48-year-old Rowling said.

She pitched the idea to Warner Bros. herself after the US studio approached her about making "Fantastic Beasts" into a film.

"I thought it was a fun idea, but the idea of seeing Newt Scamander, the supposed author of 'Fantastic Beasts', realized by another writer was difficult," she wrote.

"Having lived for so long in my fictional universe, I feel very protective of it and I already knew a lot about Newt.

"As hardcore Harry Potter fans will know, I liked him so much that I even married his grandson, Rolf, to one of my favorite characters from the Harry Potter series, Luna Lovegood."

Rowling added: "Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for 17 years, 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world.

"The laws and customs of the hidden magical society will be familiar to anyone who has read the Harry Potter books or seen the films, but Newt's story will start in New York, 70 years before Harry's gets under way."

Rowling, who has sold more than 450 million copies of the Harry Potter books, has been keeping busy since the final novel in the series was published in 2007.

She published her first novel for adults, "The Casual Vacancy", last year to mixed reviews.

In July, she was unmasked as the real author of critically acclaimed detective novel "The Cuckoo's Calling", published under the nom de plume Robert Galbraith.

With an estimated fortune of £560 million ($885 million, 666 million euros) the former single mother is the 156th richest person in Britain, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.

Warner Bros. said the new film would spawn video games and other products including links to the Pottermore website as part of an "expanded creative partnership" with Rowling.

"We are incredibly honored that Jo has chosen to partner with Warner Bros. on this exciting new exploration of the world of wizardry which has been tremendously successful across all of our businesses," said Kevin Tsujihara, CEO of Warner Bros. Entertainment.

"She is an extraordinary writer, who ignited a reading revolution around the world, which then became an unprecedented film phenomenon.

"We know that audiences will be as excited as we are to see what her brilliant and boundless imagination conjures up for us."

Warner Bros. will also act as worldwide distributor for the upcoming television miniseries adaptation of "The Casual Vacancy", which begins production in 2014, it said.

source: interaksyon.com