After three movies and over $1 billion in box office revenue, Universal is reteaming with Fifty Shades of Grey author E.L. James.
The studio has picked up the rights to James’ new novel The Mister, which follows a wealthy British aristocrat who falls in love with his Albanian housekeeper, unaware that she is on the run from vicious human traffickers.
The 2019 romance novel was on The New York Times’ best-seller list for nine weeks and has sold in 33 territories internationally.
James will produce the feature adaptation, having previously acted as a producer on the Fifty Shades trilogy. Universal’s senior vp production Sara Scott and director of development Lexi Barta will oversee the project on behalf of the studio.
James followed up her Fifty Shades novels, including the 2012 sequels Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed, with 2015’s Grey and 2017’s Darker, the latter two of which tell the story of Fifty Shades from the perspective of Christian Grey.
The author is repped by Valerie Hoskins Associates Ltd. and Franklin Weinrib.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
