I don’t know that I’ve ever written an article about “50 Shades of Grey,” and I don’t know that I ever will because this article is really about a particularly nasty strain of “fan” that isn’t all that different from an anti-fan.
For today’s “fans” nothing is good enough. They’re rapid fanboys (or, just as often, fangirls) who don’t really know anything about what would make a good movie or a bad movie or the thousands of things that have to go right before you have the former, but they sure think they do.
In their world, Charlie Hunnam isn’t a “good” Christian Grey because he doesn’t fit the image they have in their head. Why? Because Hunnam is blonde and Christian is described as brunette. I’m not kidding. For a great number of the 87 THOUSAND fans who signed the change.org position to get Hunnam removed as Christian Grey, it really boiled down to how they think the character should look, as though Hunnam’s makeup stylist won’t be able to master some black hair dye for the part.
So it was the same “fans” who were rejoicing when Hunnam pulled out only a couple weeks before filming was supposed to begin, even though this will almost certainly cause a delay in production, and might cause the film to go into turnaround. [It’s not like there are a ton of Hollywood actors lining up for this role since Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, and dozens of others have already turned down the part.]
A similar fan reaction tried to push Ben Affleck out of the Batman part in the upcoming Batman vs. Superman movie even though Affleck is on a career-high hot streak after weary performances in The Town and Argo (this Batman is supposed to be older and cagier). Who did they want to replace him? The most common two names I saw were Armie Hammer (who actually is the worst choice possible) and Karl Urban, an “actor” who is usually okay in action roles but a long-shot from an Oscar nominee or even a totally memorable, distinctive performance. Urban is the generic action-hero guy of the moment and it would be the equivalent of casting Sylvester Stallone over Michael Keaton in the very first Batman (an idea floated around at the time) just because “he’s big.”
In short: fans don’t know shit. And I hate to see Charlie Hunnam give in to them. Oh sure, his official reason for leaving 50 Shades of Grey is because he has to film the Sons of Anarchy sixth season finale so close to 50 Shades production, but I don’t think anybody really believes that.
Just giving the kind of “fans” who would honestly celebrate a move that might actually cost them getting to see this movie anytime soon is like giving in to a screaming toddler at Wal-Mart: it’ll make everyone happy for five minutes but then make everyone hate themselves for a lot longer. With fans like this, who needs haters?