‘Fifty Shades Darker’ Film Updates: Director James Foley Admits to Filming Scenes with Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan for Virtual Reality Experience

‘Fifty Shades Darker’ director James Foley admitted that he filmed scenes with actors Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan and the rest of the cast for an enhanced virtual reality experience.

According to Deadline, Foley admitted to filming the upcoming sequel to the blockbuster hit ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ with virtual reality technology. He told attendees of the VR on the Lot confab at Paramount Pictures, “Yeah, there’s marketing materials for behind-the scenes [of Fifty Shades Darker], where after we finished shooting for the day, the actors would stay over and VR people would re-create a facsimile of the scene.”

He added, “My own personal instinct is that cinema is going to move to VR because it’s an extension of the visual language,” he said. “For myself, watching the material they generated expanded my brain.”

The 62-year old film director boarded the second installment of the ‘Fifty Shades’ live-action adaptation series, replacing director Sam Taylor-Johnson. He made his directorial debut with the 1984 film ‘Reckless’, which starred Aidan Quinn and Daryl Hannah.

Foley went on to direct several full-feature films including 1987’s ‘Who’s That Girl’ starring Madonna, 1992’s ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ starring Al Pacino and Alec Baldwin, 1996’s ‘The Chamber’ starring Gene Hackman and Chris O’Donnell, 2003’s ‘Confidence’ with Dustin Hoffman and Andy Garcia, and 2007’s ‘Perfect Stranger’ starring Halle Berry and Bruce Willis. He also directed some episodes of the television series ‘Twin Peaks’, ‘Hannibal’, and ‘House of Cards.’

His follow-up stars returning lead actors Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson as Christian Grey and Anastasia “Ana” Steele, respectively. They are joined by Tyler Hoechlin, Kim Basinger, Hugh Dancy, Eric Johnson, Max Martini, Bella Heathcote, Marcia Gay Harden, Luke Grimes, and Rita Ora.

Dornan talked about his return as Christian during a previous interview. He said, “I felt more comfortable the second time around. There was a lot of pressure the first time. I think when you’re making the first film of any franchise there is a lot of pressure in terms of setting a tone and the way it’s shot and the way it’s played and finding your feet with it.”

He added, “It was very strange that I came into that job six weeks before they started filming, which is totally unheard of in a franchise of that size -- and not the way you want to go into any job, really. This time I felt I had a lot more time on my hands. And the pressure seemed to be off a bit with every department because the first one made so much money. Everyone was in a better place about it. So it was definitely a better experience.”

It was reported that Foley filmed ‘Fifty Shades Darker’ and ‘Fifty Shades Freed’ back-to-back.

The preceding film received generally negative reviews but achieved massive commercial success, breaking several box office records. According to The Numbers, ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ earned $570.98 million worldwide against a production budget of $40 million.

‘Fifty Shades Darker’ is an upcoming erotic drama film intended as the second installment in the cinematic adaptations based on E.L. James’ erotic novels of the same name. It is directed by James Foley and written for the big screen by Niall Leonard.

The film is scheduled to be released on February 10, 2017 in the United States.