50 Shades of Grey Movie Cast Rumors & Release Date: Mark Wahlberg or Brad Pitt as Christian Grey?
Some Fifty Shades of Grey fans may have been sad to see Charlie Hunnam go, but they might be even sadder to know that Mark Wahlberg and Brad Pitt were once under consideration to be a part of the film adaptation of E.L. James' novel.
During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Wahlberg revealed that he wanted to produce the Fifty Shades of Grey film.
"I almost fired my agent Ari [Emanuel] over [the Fifty Shades of Grey movie] -- not because I wanted to play the part. We were aware of the book very early on, and we were close to securing the rights and then we get into this bidding war," Wahlberg said.
Wahlberg was not happy when he lost that war.
"We were so close to having [it]," he said. "That was one of the few times I was going to fire Ari."
Although Jamie Dornan has been cast to play Christian Grey, the kinky businessman that seduces college student Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson), producer Michael De Luca thinks Christian Grey "looks a lot like Mark Wahlberg."
"I mean, the woman wrote a fantasy: a square-jawed, tall, broad-shouldered, genius, billionaire Adonis ..." De Luca said.
Wahlberg disagreed.
"No, sounds like Brad Pitt to me," he said.
Before Dornan, Hunnam was originally selected to play Christian Grey but abandoned the role due to what Universal Pictures and Focus Features announced as an "immersive TV schedule" with the FX's "Sons of Anarchy."
Fifty Shades of Grey will be released Feb. 13, 2015.