Universal Pictures and Focus FeaturesAnne Coates has spent 60 years editing films in Hollywood and has an Oscar to prove it. Needless to say, when she speaks up about a film, she is heard loud and clear.
As the editor of the highly anticipated film adaptation of the BDSM-inspired Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, Coates finally said what we all wanted to say following the two hours spent sitting in a movie theater on Valentine's Day.
Sure, Christian Grey may have lusted after Anastasia Steele with the same intensity as we did over a Thanksgiving bowl of mashed potatoes, but for those who paid $13 to see it, most can agree the sex appeal ultimately fell pretty flat against the silver screen, including Coates herself.
"It was kind of fun. I thought it could have been a little more raunchy myself," she admitted to The Hollywood Reporter. "Creatively, it was quite interesting because they were trying to get as sexy as they could and get an R rating."
To avoid pushing the boundaries too far, the acclaimed editor reveals the post-production process was tricky.
"We were very delicately going around some of the scenes," she added.
For books that promised "pleasure and pain, reward and punishment"—E.L. James' words, not ours—it seems the sex scenes may have been a bit too delicate to properly deliver the wild images fans worldwide had conjured up.
Still, don't blame Coates for any failed expectations—she's had plenty of experience cutting tales of torrid love affairs.
"I was surprised to be asked to do it," she revealed. "But, I think it was because I did Unfaithful, which was fairly sexy."
"Fairly" is an understatement.