Northern Irish actor Jamie Dornan will replace Charlie Hunnam in the role of billionaire Christian Grey in the screen adaptation of the best-selling erotic novel, “Fifty Shades of Grey,” author E.L. James said on Thursday.
Hunnam’s departure, six weeks after he had been announced on September 2 as the film’s male lead, put producers on the spot to fill the role quickly because filming is expected to start early next month.
“Stow your twitchy palms ladies … our man is here. Welcome to #TeamFifty @JamieDornan1 x,” James said on Twitter.
Universal Pictures did not immediately confirm James’ casting news.
Dornan, a 31-year-old former Calvin Klein fashion model, will star alongside American actress Dakota Johnson in the film directed by Sam Taylor-Wood.
The movie is slated to be released by Universal Pictures’ Focus Features <CMCSA.O> in August.
Dornan has appeared in Sofia Coppola’s 2006 18th century period film, “Marie Antoinette,” and more recently played the Huntsman in ABC network’s fairytale TV series “Once Upon a Time” in its first and second seasons.
“Fifty Shades of Grey,” about a passionate relationship between literature student Anastasia and the wealthy and mysterious entrepreneur, Christian Grey, was published in 2011 and became a cultural phenomenon, spawning offshoots and parodies.
Described as “mummy porn” by critics, James’s debut novel, the first in the “Fifty Shades” trilogy, became Britain’s fastest paperback to reach 1 million sales. (Reporting by Eric Kelsey; editing by Mary Milliken and Sandra Maler)