The 50 Shades of Grey casting continues to generate news headlines. It is rumored that Ian Somerhalder will play Christian Grey, one of the film's leading roles.  According to Examiner, however, taking the role could cause problems in the actor's relationship to Nina Dobrev. The couple tries to keep their relationship low key, but if Somerhalder wins the role of Christian Grey then their relationship would be under the spotlight.

Yahoo also reported that Universal Pictures has settled their lawsuit against Smash Pictures, an Adult Entertainment Film Company.  Smash was set to release a parody of the popular book entitled Fifty Shades of Grey: A XXX Adaptation, and a trailer to the parody was released last year. This upset Universal executives who felt the adult film company was infringing upon its rights. The parody would have used character names that were in the bestseller along with main story points.

50 Shades of Grey became a favorite among female readers in 2012. The story revolves around Anastasia Steele, a young student that falls in love with the tormented Christian Grey. The erotic nature of the book caused it to gain a large following along with consistent media attention. Some sources believe it is the erotic version of Twilight.

According to Forbes, 50 Shades of Grey is the fastest selling paperback of all time. It is also believed the movie franchise will accumulate the same amount of attention as Twilight did. The book also has many fan websites dedicated to it. One of them is called "LATERS, BABY!"  The website has 50 Shades of Grey photo contests, Fan Fiction, News about the author, E.L. James and articles about 50 Shades merchandise that is currently being sold. Last month they posted an article informing readers that designer Janet Cadsawan's collection Fifty Shades of Grey collaboration with Fifty Shades trilogy author E L James will be available on Amazon.