If you've been anxiously awaiting to hear who will play Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey in the movie adaptation of the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy, relief came yesterday.
As with every highly anticipated casting search, there's bound to be some disappointed fans. For the record, we're in that group. We just can't get behind Dakota Johnson as Anastasia Steele -- or Charlie Hunnam as Christian Grey for that matter. Here's a list of actresses we'd rather see play Ms. Steele.
See also: 50 Shades of Grey: 7 Actresses We Don't Want to See Play Anastasia in the Movie
Alicia Vikander Vikander is beautiful but hers is an understated kind of beauty that would work well with Anastasia's character. Her face is relatively unknown, and with reports circulating that author E.L. James wasn't interested in an A-lister playing the main roles, her lack of recognizability would've worked in her favor. She can pull off innocent and naive easily, and we think she'd make a great Ana.
Lily Collins With Collins' big doe eyes, full lips, and cascading brown hair, she seemed like the perfect fit for Steele's character. Her look is unique and, like Vikander, she isn't that well-known or associated with a character already in fans' eyes (sorry Jennifer Lawrence). She was rumored to be a high contender for the role, and we think she would have been a much better fit.
Shailene Woodley Unfortunately she just chopped off her long locks. So we're guessing she wasn't too interested in playing the role, but we all know what Hollywood is capable of and extensions are not the least of it. Woodley can act, and has an innocent look to her in addition to possessing some spunk. She's also the perfect age, turning 22 in November of this year. Her eyes aren't blue, but again, that could be fixed. All that aside, she's still a better fit than Johnson.
Alexis Bledel Bledel's character Rory on the beloved mom-daughter duo series Gilmore Girls is almost exactly Ana's personality to a T. The series has been off the air for long enough that we don't automatically see her as Rory, and Bledel looks exactly as what you would picture Ana to look like based off the book's description of her. She was a fan favorite to score the role, and mock trailers were made with her featuring Matt Bomer as Christian Grey. We'd love to see her do something a little more edgy, and are actually quite shocked she didn't get the part.
Emilia Clarke Although Clarke is famous for her bad-ass female dragon queen role on Game of Thrones, her appearance on the show is much different than her off-set look, which is more aligned with what Anastasia looks like than one might think had they only seen her on GOT. Although we're used to seeing her play the feisty role of Daenarys, she is a multi-dimensional actress who can appear innocent and naive if that's what she wanted. We love her so much in GOT, it would have been fun to see her in a drastically different role.
Allison Williams Williams has garnered praise and critical acclaim for her role as Marnie in Lena Dunham's HBO series Girls. She's got the acting chops to play versatile roles and fits the part of Anastasia looks-wise, although her dominating smile might toe the line a bit. We think she'd pull off Anastasia brilliantly. Her name was tossed into the hat as potential contenders more recently, and we fully supported her in the role of Ana.
Leighton Meester We may be used to thinking of Meester as the conniving, privileged Blair Waldorf of Gossip Girl, but Meester has played many different types of characters, and pulled them off with tremendous acting ability. Her big eyes, full lips, and pale skin make her a perfect match for Ana's character. Although we've seen her in multiple projects outside of Gossip Girl, this role could've been exactly what she needed to break away from the Blair legacy.
Now that we know who will play Steele and Grey, we are happy to put that chapter of unknown behind us. Only time will tell if we end up loving Johnson and Hunnam in the roles.
