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Monday’s news that Charlie Hunnam and Dakota Johnson had been cast in Focus Features‘ adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey was not universally acclaimed by fans of the popular EL James novel, who had their own ideas about who should play Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele.
Naturally, they took to Twitter to express their disappointment about the choices — and some even created a petition to have Hunnam and Johnson replaced with Matt Bomer and Alexis Bledel.
PHOTOS: Top 10 Fan Favorites for the Cast of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’
The petition on Change.org had 5,833 signatures as of Tuesday morning.
Fans of popular stories are often disappointed with the casting choices for movie adaptations. Most recently, the news that Ben Affleck would be playing Batman in the upcoming Man of Steel sequel led to a negative backlash on Twitter and a petition that he be replaced as the Caped Crusader.
One of the movie’s producers, Dana Brunetti, responded to the backlash, tweeting “there is a lot that goes into casting that isn’t just looks. Talent, availability, their desire to do it, chemistry with other actor, etc.”
“So if your favorite wasn’t cast, then it is most likely due to something on that list. Keep that in mind while hating and keep perspective,” he added.
Brunetti also retweeted some of the negative tweets that mentioned him:
@DanaBrunetti I hate you. #NoMattNoAlexisNoMovie
— Yessy Zavala. (@_YesyZvla) September 3, 2013
@DanaBrunetti you bastard son of your mom, and your @E_L_James not think about the fanatical about your book that movie failed!
— 1D-bitch-50SG (@Matt1D50sombras) September 3, 2013
@DanaBrunetti You’re a beast. I think if you had put a monkey , surely you had chosen to be Grey, Idiot!
— Eliana. (@5SOS_Lashton) September 2, 2013
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