50 Shades Of Grey Cast: Who is Charlie Hunnam? Who is Dakota Johnson?

Culture

The casting for the leads of 50 Shades of Grey were announced yesterday and after the initial excitement surrounding the news had worn off the general reaction was: who the hell are these actors? I'm not going lie, even I had to do a double take when I first saw the names and photos of the actors chosen to play Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey. However, just a little bit of research gave me some answers and well, still left me wondering if these two fit this big ticket bill.  

The character of Anastasia Steele will be played by Dakota Johnson: Who?! Right. Well, Dakota comes from a lineage of Hollywood royalty: her mother is Melanie Griffith and her grandmother is Tippi Hedren, once a muse/obsession of Alfred Hitchcock, who is most known for her lead in his cryptic movie The Birds. Dakota is most known for her bit role in The Social Network as a Stanford student who has a one-night stand with Justin Timberlake's character, Sean Parker. She certainly is fresh-faced, and if she pulls off the role will be at the helm of a cult classic.

She already has one fan and that's mom, Melanie Griffith, who tweeted: "My beautiful child Dakota has been chosen to play Anna Steele in 50 Shades!!! Look out world! Here she comes!!! #proudmama." Further confusion: Melanie Griffith tweets?  

In regards to the male lead: Christian Grey's actor Charlie Hunnam is probably even less well-known than Dakota, so he will have his work cut out for him. The skinny on him is that he's British (I love a British accent), made his way through acting by landing bit roles on British TV shows, once auditioned for Dawson's Creek (for Dawson or Pacey's character, that detail is unknown) and he just completed a blockbuster film entitled Pacific Rim. It seems he has paid his dues in the acting world and a big blockbuster like 50 Shades could be his ticket to celebrity.

Could these two be the next dynamic duo a la Robsten? The movie is just in pre-production and these two actors are already creating buzz.

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