Foley confirmed to direct Fifty Shades sequel?

James Foley has been named the director of Fifty Shades Darker, according to reports.

The House of Cards helmer has been touted as the front-runner to lead the Fifty Shades of Grey sequel for weeks, but the murmurs have just been rumours.

And Variety reports James has now officially been awarded with the job by Universal Pictures executives. He is allegedly preparing to undergo serious negotiations with the studio, discussing final details of his contract. Once James’ agreement is finalised, casting for other roles in Fifty Shades Darker will commence.

Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson are expected to reprise their roles as Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele respectively in the follow-up. It was also recently reported former Gilmore Girls star Alexis Bledel will be joining the cast as Leila Williams, a former sex submissive to Christian, but this remains unconfirmed.

It’s claimed executives have been meeting with a number of directors over the past several months after Sam Taylor-Johnson bowed out of directing the sequels. While filming Fifty Shades of Grey, Sam frequently got into creative conflicts with E.L. James, the author behind the book series.

The original 2015 erotic drama was made with a budget of $40 million and it earned nearly $570 million at the box office, despite being panned by critics.

Author E.L. will be producing Fifty Shades Darker with Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti. E.L.’s husband Niall Leonard wrote the script.

Production begins on the picture in 2016 and a tentative release date for Fifty Shades Darker has been set for Valentine’s Day 2017.