(Photo: Gage Skidmore)

I haven’t read E.L. James’s Fifty Shades of Grey, but I’ve heard that it has a somewhat salacious storyline. I’ve also heard that the quality of its prose does not match its huge commercial success. Both the book and the trilogy of which it is a part have been bestsellers, so they are inevitably being turned into movies.

Charlie Hunnam, a British actor most famous for his role on Sons of Anarchy, was slated for the lead role of Christian Grey in the first Fifty Shades movie. But after reading the book itself, Mr. Hunnam has decided to back out of the project due to scheduling conflicts. Taylor Bigler of The Daily Caller reports:

The “Sons of Anarchy” actor last month was cast as the BDSM freak Christian Grey in the movie version of the middle-aged mom porn book, which is widely considered to be an embarrassment to literature and has Thomas Hardy rolling over in his grave. But Entertainment Weekly reported Saturday that the actor dropped out of the film due to “scheduling conflicts.” Riiiight. The studio said in a statement Saturday, “The filmmakers of FIFTY SHADES OF GREY and Charlie Hunnam have agreed to find another male lead given Hunnam’s immersive TV schedule which is not allowing him time to adequately prepare for the role of Christian Grey.” Fans of the book were horrified by the casting decision because they actually thought that they could get someone like Ryan Gosling to act in what is sure to be the worst movie of whatever year it will come out.

-via Jim Treacher