Fifty Shades of Grey has a director

British director Sam

Taylor-Johnson will direct a movie version of erotic best-seller Fifty

Shades of Grey, the studios behind the project announced on Wednesday.



Taylor-Johnson, who was nominated for a BAFTA for 2009's Nowhere Boy

about John Lennon, will make the

film for Universal Pictures and Focus Features, based on a screenplay

by Kelly Marcel.



"Sam's unique ability to gracefully showcase complex relationships

dealing with love, emotion and sexual chemistry make her the ideal

director to bring Christian and

Anastasia's relationship to life," said producer Michael De Luca.



"E L James's characters and vivid storytelling require a director who

is willing to take risks and push the envelope where needed, and Sam

is

a natural fit," he added in a

statement.



Forty-six year-old Taylor-Johnson - who changed her name from Sam

Taylor-Wood after marrying

Nowhere Boy star Aaron Johnson, 23, last year - said she was "excited"

to bring the book to the silver screen.



"For the legions of fans, I want to say that I will honor the power of

Erika's book and the characters of Christian

and Anastasia. They are under my skin too," she said.



Spiced up with sado-masochism, the 2011 novel was the first part of a

trilogy about a relationship between a college graduate, Anastasia

Steele, and a young business magnate, Christian Grey.



The two studios acquired the rights to the three books in the Fifty

Shades trilogy - which also included Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty

Shades Freed - in March 2012.



The trilogy has been translated into 50 languages, and sold over 70

million copies worldwide in ebook

and print, making it one of the fastest-selling book series ever, they said.