Fifty Shades of Grey: Actors Tested For Christian Last Friday

THR reports that Tony Award-nominated actor Billy Magnussen and British actor Jamie Dornan tested Friday for the male lead in the film adaptation of the erotic E L James book "Fifty Shades of Grey"--Following the sudden exit of Sons of Anarchy and Pacific Rim star Charlie Hunnam--who seemingly backed out for a number of reasons.

Aussie Luke Bracey has also been thrown into the mix as well.

The trio join the likes of Scott Eastwood ("Texas Chainsaw 3D," "Fury") Alexander Skarsgård  Montreal-born François Arnaud  Theo James and Christian Cooke who have also been attached to take over the coveted role.

The news of the initial lead casting led to a strong fan backlash, Several actors were sought for the film and passed. Ryan Gosling  was one such Christian Grey option. Shailene Woodley, Felicity Jones, Alicia Vikander, Imogen Poots and Elizabeth Olsen were all under consideration for Anastasia. All passed due to lack of interest, scheduling conflicts and/or other reasons.

Ian Somerhalder, Matt Bomer, Newcomer Erik Odom and Henry Cavill have also been linked to play Christian. Arrow star Stephen Amell had a meeting about the role.

You'll recall that director Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting) and actor Alex Pettyfer (Magic Mike) shot test scene recounting when the ingenue Anastasia Steele loses her virginity to Grey in Van Sant's bid for the gig,

What began as a posting on a fan-fiction website as a tribute to author Stephenie Meyer 's Twilight books soon became a word-of-mouth eBook hit that won a major reprint deal with Random House.

The sexually-explicit story follows 27-year-old billionaire Christian Grey and 22-year-old virgin college student Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson TV's Ben and Kate and The Social Network"), who develop a relationship steeped in bondage, S&M, domination and submission.

The novel is the first in a planned trilogy. James has sold 31 million e-book and print copies in English-language markets worldwide, in the U.S. alone she has sold over 20 million copies in e-book and print.

Jennifer Ehle will play Carla the mother of female lead Anastasia.

Sam Taylor-Johnson, best known for directing the 2009 film Nowhere Boy and being married to actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson directs the film after a lengthy search.

Kelly Marcel wrote the adapted screenplay. She previously worked on "Terra Nova" and penned the upcoming "Saving Mr. Banks". Oscar-nominated screenwriter Patrick Marber has been tasked with the job of to give performing a script a polish and adding  some extra character bits.

"Moneyball" and "The Social Network" producers Mike De Luca and Dana Brunetti won a bidding war to produce the film version of "Shades"

Cameras were scheduled to roll on the film adaptation at North Shore Studios in Vancouver on November 5th. The film was to be released on August 1, 2014 in the US. It's not known whether this recast will lead to a delay. If the dilemma is solved in short order--most likely not.