‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ director Sam Taylor-Johnson quits

Sam Taylor-Johnson will not be returning to direct the next movie in the ‘Fifty Shades’ franchise.

The 48-year-old film-maker helmed ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ and was in pole position to direct ‘Fifty Shades Darker’, but has decided to walk away from the much-discussed franchise after she was involved in a number of disagreements with author E.L. James, who wrote the best-selling books.

She told Us Weekly: “Directing Fifty Shades of Grey has been an intense and incredible journey for which I am hugely grateful.

“I have Universal to thank for that. I forged close and lasting relationships with the cast, producers and crew and most especially, with Dakota [Johnson] and Jamie [Dornan].

“While I will not be returning to direct the sequels, I wish nothing but success to whosoever takes on the exciting challenges of films two and three.”

Taylor-Johnson recently confessed she found it tough working with E.L. James on the movie.

She admitted: “We definitely fought, but they were creative fights and we would resolve them.

“We would have proper on-set barneys, and I’m not confrontational, but it was about finding a way between the two of us, satisfying her vision of what she’d written as well as my need to visualise this person on screen, but, you know, we got there.”