'The Canyons' Trailer Released; '50 Shades' Screenwriter Tapped

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Two Hollywood stories today involve the adult entertainment industry in one way or another. A trailer has been released for the upcoming Bret Easton Ellis-penned The Canyons, starring Lindsay Lohan and James Deen, and Focus Films has reportedly tapped Tera Nova co-creator Kelly Marcel to take a stab at the adaptation of E. L. James' "mommy porn" blockbuster, 50 Shades of Grey, to the tweeting chagrin of Ellis, who had previously stated his interest in the gig. It appears as if the trailer, which runs a mere 1:12, is getting the desired reactions. Indiewire.com opined, "Shot over the summer and put together in full grindhouse style, the footage in the trailer is old-school trenchcoat poetry." Slashfilm.com complained, "Has [The Canyon's director] Paul Schrader created a film that might have played at a theater his defining character Travis Bickle might have visited in Taxi Driver?" Fox News described the trailer as a "grainy Grindhouse-style clip [that] features stars stripping off and getting down, a bit of gore and the schlocky tagline: 'Where the sex is as cheap as the budget…and the only way out is death!'" The trailer's YouTube page provides a little more information. "As those who have been following The Canyons know, we are to a large degree crowd sourced," it reads. "Fortunately Dan Shulman-Means volunteered to come out of retirement and put together this teaser. It's been a while a while since Dan has worked and it's great to see him in top form! "This teaser was made to resemble thrillers from the 1970's," it added. "Two more teasers made to resemble 1950's melodrama and 1930's comedy will be delivered soon." Meanwhile, Indiewire also published the anguished tweet sent by Ellis upon hearing that Tera Nova's Marcel had been tapped to take a first crack at adapting 50 Shades to the big screen. "Kelly Marcel?!?" he wrote. "KELLY MARCEL?!? Kelly Marcel is WRITING the script for 'Fifty Shades of Grey'?!? THIS is the movie they want to make? ARGH." Indiewire commented, 'Despite things not going his way, Ellis looks to have enough sticky material in The Canyons for two movies." And it's all but certain that more than one Hollywood scribe will get a stab at 50 Shades of Grey, so who knows.