David Livingston,Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images Everybody—and we mean everybody—has been talking about Fifty Shades of Grey. There's no point denying it, because we know you are too.
Whether it's who should play who when the naughty tale eventually hits the big screen (Alex Pettyfer for Christian Grey? Lily Collins for Anastasia Steele?) or whether the "mommy porn" should be available to the library-attending public, everyone is dishing some notable quotable or another about the series.
So we rounded up our five favorite quotes that have stirred up controversy. Grab a whip, hang on to your chains and let's get down to business:
1. Kristen Stewart: "I've Heard It's Quite Sexy!" When asked by Entertainment Weekly about the erotic saga, Kristen Stewart revealed, "It's funny—I heard about it yesterday. Rob [Pattinson] and Wyck [Godfrey], our producer, were talking about it…I've heard it's quite sexy, very titillating." Innocent enough, right?!
Yes, except that the Fifty Shades franchise was originally inspired by Kristen and R.Pattz's Twilight alter-egos, Bella Swan and Edward Cullen, so the fact that she's giving her official seal of approval (she even said "Hell yeah!" to reading the book) is kind of a big deal.
2. Alexander Skarsgård: "I Was Born to Play That Part!" Nearly every piece of man candy in town with a six pack and rigid jaw line has had his name thrown into the ring for the Fifty Shades movie adaptation. And while we definitely approve of Ian Somerhalder saying he's "absolutely" interested, another man got us all hot and bothered.
Alexander Skarsgård told Access Hollywood, "Where do I sign? He's got a sex chamber, my character has that on True Blood. He's got his little dungeon...I was born to play that part." Do it, do it, do it! This is set to be a huge franchise, but we were worried the NC-17-worthy material would turn actors off. Apparently, not so.
3. Ryan Seacrest: "I'm Obsessed!" It's not just the women who are getting in on the Fifty Shades action. Our very own Ryan Seacrest admitted to Access Hollywood that he's "obsessed" with the story. "It's fascinating to see something like that capture the zeitgeist and also it's really interesting to read." Oh, but that's not all.
"And I'm using it as a manual," he joked. "I think it can be a study book for a lot of people." And if you want to hear just how much Ryan loves Ana and Christian's filthy romps, you can hear him recreate scenes with women from the deli on his KIIS FM radio show. How risqué!
4. Joy Behar: "Barbara, You're Looking Very S&M Today!" It's hardly unlike the chatty ladies of The View to stir up trouble. But boy, did we get that and then some when topic turned to—duh!—Fifty Shades. "I left my whip—" Barbara Walters started when told her leather jacket was quite red room-worthy, and when she stopped Joy Behar kept prodding, joking, "Where did you leave your whip?!"
And if that wasn't enough to get you going, the sexy talk turned to HBO's controversial Girls, where Babs talked about sex "from the rear" then proceeded to ask Elisabeth Hasselbeck, "Do you like it when he's rough?" A flabbergasted Whoopi Goldberg summed it up best, crying, "My eyes are bleeding!"
5. E.L. James: "This Is My Midlife Crisis!" While millions upon millions of copies of Fifty Shades and its sequels (Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed) have sparked a passion in the hearts loins of loyal followers, author E.L. James (who won't reveal her age but says she's in her 40s) has a different outlook on it, embarrassingly telling The Today Show, "This is my midlife crisis—all my fantasies out there."
The humble writer continued to say she doesn't think she's a great writer (in fact, she calls the work "raw") and that the stories are far from revolutionary ("I'm stunned by its popularity"). So might that be the most scandalous of all?
James isn't expecting a Pulitzer Price—she just wants a hot actor to fulfill her fantasies on the big screen. Can't fault her for that, eh?
(E!, The Today Show and Universal Pictures are part of the NBCUniversal family.)