Can little-known Dakota Johnson carry lead role 50 Shades?

BEFORE EL James’s erotic Fifty Shades of Grey became the fastest-selling book series of all time, it had already sparked a studio bidding war for the film rights.

So when James tweeted last Tuesday morning that the roles of the books’ main characters, 21-year-old bookish college student Anastasia Steele and 27-year-old millionaire Christian Grey, would be played by Dakota Johnson (daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith) and Charlie Hunnam from Sons of Anarchy, the news was met with a surprising amount of “so what?”.

I am delighted to let you know that the lovely Dakota Johnson has agreed to be our Anastasia in the film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey.

— E L James 💙 (@E_L_James) September 2, 2013

The gorgeous and talented Charlie Hunnam will be Christian Grey in the film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey.

— E L James 💙 (@E_L_James) September 2, 2013

After all, casting rumours had been circulating the Internet ever since Universal and Focus Features won that epic bidding war for $5 million in March 2012, with huge names like Twilight’s Robert Pattinson and Harry Potter’s Emma Watson floated as leads.

Instead, the coveted roles have been filled by actors with relatively little star power, which accounts for the underwhelming media coverage and backlash, most notably in the form of a Change.org petition demanding that Johnson and Hunnam be replaced with Alexis Bledel of Gilmore Girls fame and Matt Bomer, star of US television series White Collar.

According to the movie’s screenwriter, Bret Easton Ellis, Pattinson was indeed James’s first choice for the role of Christian, but Bomer was “never in the running”. And if Ellis’s loose-lipped tweets are any indication, the 23-year-old Johnson may well have been the top contender for the story’s heroine. But can she pull it off?

Talked to E.L. James at a party over the summer: her first choice for Christian was Rob Pattinson and Matt Bomer was never in the running.

— Bret Easton Ellis (@BretEastonEllis) September 2, 2013

E.L. James and I were at Rob Pattinson's house when she admitted that Rob was first choice for Christian. Ian Somerhalder never in running.

— Bret Easton Ellis (@BretEastonEllis) September 2, 2013

When E.L. James asked me who I thought should be Christian I said "James Deen, of course" and then she shoved me. We were both very wasted.

— Bret Easton Ellis (@BretEastonEllis) September 2, 2013

Yes, Johnson is beautiful (she resembles a young Meryl Streep), but her starry parentage and small collection of buzzy cameos belie a relatively shallow CV. The actress first turned heads in 2010’s The Social Network as the underwear-clad Stanford girl who had a one-night stand with Justin Timberlake’s Sean Parker.

She went on to appear in last year’s tepidly received rom-com The Five Year Engagement as well as the better-received 21 Jump Street. She also garnered acclaim in US sitcom Ben and Kate, which, despite good reviews, was cancelled after one season due to low ratings.

The biggest concern for many 50 Shades diehards — especially those who could hardly tolerate Anastasia’s dithering inner monologue in the books (every nipple twist and spanking from Christian is punctuated by a Holy Crap! or Holy Shit! or Holy Moses! from Anastasia) — appears to be whether Johnson will be able to manage a leading role in which she must make her onscreen character likeable and sexy as opposed to loathsome and prudish.

In short, does Johnson have the talent, let alone the sexual presence, to tackle the sadomasochistic games — gag balls in her mouth, whips in Christian’s Red Room of Pain — that could potentially make this movie worth watching? (We’ve yet to get a solid indication on whether the films will be as filthily explicit as the books.)

We don’t have any reason to write her off just yet. Johnson’s onscreen roles have been small, but noteworthy enough that she caught producer Dana Brunetti’s eye. And while she hasn’t yet made her way to Hollywood’s A-list, it’s worth noting that neither had Kristen Stewart before her Twilight debut, nor Rooney Mara before The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Acting also runs in Johnson’s family; in addition to being the daughter of two major Hollywood stars, she’s the granddaughter of Hitchcock darling Tippi Hedren. When she was younger, she would “watch my parents work and think, yeah, I’m going to do that,” Johnson said last October. “It’s the only thing I know how to do.”