Fifty Shades Darker filming begins: Five things to expect from Grey sequel

The filming for Fifty Shades Darker, the most anticipated movie of 2017, has finally kicked off in Vancouver. EL James, the author of the best selling erotic novel trilogy, has confirmed that the production of the BDSM-themed movie has started, through her Instagram account.

The celebrated writer captioned the picture with a good luck wish for the movie's cast and crew: "Day one #FSD Good luck to all the cast and crew."

For the past few weeks, James has been teasing fans by sharing pictures of the famous Grey pencil, set construction, and some beautiful locations from Vancouver.

The franchise's lead star Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson, however, were missing from the picture shared by James but Irish Examiner has confirmed that Johnson has landed in the Canadian city after wrapping up her promotional campaign for her romantic comedy How To Be Single. She was reportedly seen at the movie set to do some rehearsals.

Scheduled to premiere during Valentine's Day 2017, Paramount Pictures has tweaked its approach for the Fifty Shades Of Grey sequel. The first part was heavily based on the sexual chemistry between billionaire entrepreneur Christian Grey and naive college student Anastasia Steele, and included plenty of intimate scenes between them.

Here are five things to expect from the Grey sequel:

1: The second movie in the Grey trilogy will be a thriller. Author James's husband, Niall Leonard, has been hired by Paramount Pictures to write the script in the manner of a thriller. The reason is pretty simple. The producers want to expand their target audience by reducing nude scenes and adding a suspense element in the story.

Eric Johnson has been hired to play Anastasia Steele's boss Jack Hyde, who will be smitten by her beauty and demand sexual favours from her. Speculation is high that Christian will secretly buy the publishing house and ruin his career. Jack will later stalk Ana to seek revenge from the couple.

2: Dornan may go full frontal nude: In a recent interview, Johnson has teased that fans might see more naked scenes of the BDSM-obsessed billionaire in the upcoming film. "That's an interesting question," she answered, adding "I'll probably get in trouble for this answer. Um, yeah. I'm going to make him get fully naked in the next one. ... Everybody wants to see the D," she said in Bravo's Watch What Happens Live.

3. A sort of love triangle: Jack Hyde's love/obsession for Ana will bother Christian who cannot stand the fact that his girl is in close proximity to another man the entire day in the office. The jealousy and obsession between the two men will create a sort of love triangle between the three characters.

4. The curious case of Elena Lincoln: Paramount has hired Kim Basinger to play Christian Grey's ex-lover Elena Lincoln. Elena was his mother's friend who dragged a young Christian into the sadomasochistic world. Ana will always feel insecure of Mrs Robinson as her boyfriend still refers to his abuser as a "good friend". This will create a lot of differences between the couple.

5: Director James Foley to bring new life to the franchise: The first movie in the erotic trilogy was made on a $40m (£27m) budget but went on to gross $569m worldwide. However, it was severely criticised for its loose script and lack of chemistry between the lead stars. The "creative differences" between James and movie director Sam Taylor-Johnson is well known in the industry after which the former left her directorial hat that was picked up by Foley, who is expected to bring new life to the "otherwise dull" movie.

Fifty Shades Darker is set to premiere on 10 February 2017, while the third part in the series Fifty Shades Freed will premiere on 9 February 2018.