Fifty Shades of Grey director reveals behind-the-scenes hostility

The director of the original Fifty Shades of Grey film has revealed she can't watch the sequels and wishes she never agreed to make the raunchy movie.

Sam Taylor-Johnson clashed with Fifty Shades Of Grey author EL James when they worked on the big screen adaptation of the racy book together.

She says she's "confused" about why James doesn't like her and is still puzzled about why they clashed.

She told the Sunday Times Magazine: "I like everyone - and I get really confused when they don't like me. I was so confused by EL James. I don't understand when I can't navigate a person, when there's no synergy."

Taylor-Johnson, 50, decided not to return for the sequel to the movie and insisted she is completely done with the franchise.

Director Sam Taylor-Johnson, actors Jamie Dornan, Dakota Johnson and author E.L. James. Photo / Getty Images

She said: "I'm not going to ever watch them. I have literally zero interest. I can never say I regret it because that would just finish me off. [But] with the benefit of hindsight would I go through it again? Of course, I wouldn't. I'd be mad."

Taylor-Johnson's decision to take on the project came as a surprise but she says she was drawn to the "dysfunctional fairy tale".

She explained: "It felt like a very dysfunctional fairy tale: a controlling prince and an unsuspecting young village girl. What I wanted to achieve is [for her] to usurp him against the odds."

And opening up about one of the movie's most controversial scenes, in which Dakota Johnson's Anastasia Steele is "punished" with six lashes from Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan), Taylor-Johnson insisted that it was necessary for character development.

She said: "The idea was she would hold a mirror to his darkness and come out with the power.

This article was first published on NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.