'Fifty Shades of Grey': Script Polishing and a New Christian Grey?

Shooting on "Fifty Shades of Grey" is due to start next month, but the project seems to be anything but ready to go. This week, Charlie Hunnam, who had been cast to play the male lead, dropped out of the project, and no there's word that a new writer has been called in to do some polishing work on the script.

The Hollywood Reporter reports that the film's producers have called in writer Patrick Marber, who has worked on "Closer" and "Notes on a Scandal," to do some touch-up on the "Fifty Shades" script. Informed sources insist that this development is not an indication that the script is in trouble; Marber was called in before Hunnam left the project, and this kind of last-minute tweaking is normal and shouldn't jeopardize the film's shooting schedule.

The lack of a leading man, though, could throw the project off-schedule. Again according to THR, producers are considering Jamie Dornan ("The Fall") and Alexander Skarsgard ("True Blood") for the role. Skarsgard had appeared to be a no-go for the role, but maybe now that HBO has set an end date for "True Blood," the actor could be interested in establishing a post-TV career. Dornan is an Irish actor who has also had a significant role in "Once Upon a Time."