'Fifty Shades' film gets a writer

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LOS ANGELES, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Universal Pictures and Focus Features announced they have hired Kelly Marcel to pen a script based on the British erotic novel "Fifty Shades of Grey."

Marcel, 38, is a former child actor, and the co-creator and executive producer of the now-defunct Fox television series "Terra Nova." She also wrote the screenplay "Saving Mr. Banks," which is being made into a movie starring Tom Hanks.

"We were all taken with the depth and passion of Kelly's engagement with the characters and world [author] E.L. James has created, and we knew she was the right person to augment our 'Fifty Shades' family," producer Dana Brunetti said in a statement issued to the Los Angeles Times.