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Right out of the gate, these movies established a measure of dominance that Christian Grey could learn from.
The Weeknds Earned It striptease earned him and the film an Oscar nomination.
Way to come out with a bang.
It was expected that music would play a key character in the films.
Conceptually, the bar had been set very high.
Our primary purpose was to put up a good movie on the screen.
But when a movie is in postproduction, the marketing kicks into high gear as well.
The campaign to sell it had the same aspirations as us.
The Beyonce play was a collaboration between us and the creative advertising exec overseeing the campaign, Maria Pekurovskaya.
She wanted to make an impact.
It started with, Wouldnt it be cool if we got a Crazy in Love cover?
Slow it down and make it sultry.
Be a part of this initial mic-drop moment in the first trailer and blow up the internet.
Beyonce had done soundtrack cuts before, but usually for films shes also starred in.
Its also a big ask to get her to rerecord her breakthrough solo hit.
How did you sell her on it?Knobloch:Delicately.
It started as a clearance conversation could we license the song?
Shes very precise and strategic about the decisions that she makes and approval that she gives.
Sano:This particular group does not take no for an answer very easily.
Knobloch:Theres always a plan B, but its never as cool.
So we exhausted every possible option to make this happen.
I remember there was a definitive moment with Crazy in Love.
She asked for him.
We never expected it would become the signature riff of the whole franchise.
I remember thinking,Oh my god, I have plutonium in my hands.
This is gonna be something big.Everyone had the same reaction.
Sano:It was so unexpected.
We didnt know what she was gonna do and she owned it.
It became the through line of the films.
It was so different reaching out to the music community on the firstFifty Shadesversus the subsequent films.
Not everyone was willing to jump in headfirst.
In hindsight, the best thing we did was to construct parameters.
Sano:We didnt want to make an inspired by soundtrack.
Every song on the soundtrack had to be in the film.
Thats not common and its also very hard.
Levy:We brought writers and producers in very early and showed them scenes.
We really engaged them on a meaningful level so it didnt feel tacked on.
It had to feel organic to the picture, tonally within in each scene itself.
Do you warn artists when youre putting their song in a sex scene?
Sano:Its all about the way you bring it up.
When artists participate in scenes that are more pornographic, were always up front about it.
They shouldnt be shocked when they see the film.
Knobloch:Sometimes people say no and you have to get them to say yes.
It was hard on the first movie to convey that to people.
We want everything to be done with high integrity.
But it started from us just messing around.
Sano: You just start to lose perspective.
We needed to shake the trees a bit and find something out of the box.
Thats when the discovery happened.
In theory, theres no way you arrive at Van Morrison.
It was a wink.
You would default to a Rihanna song, but Moondance is funnier.
Fans of the books knew Christian Grey would have to sing inFreed.
Did it take much convincing to getJamie Dornan to do that coveror was he game from the start?
And why pick Maybe Im Amazed?Sano:That was all Jamies choice.
It was something in his key and wheelhouse that he admired.
Not to quote the song, but he was amazing, a real trooper.
He wanted to do it.
We actually recorded him on set in an isolated bedroom in Whistler in Canada.
But it was always that song because it had to be something easily played on a piano.
Was it always Jamie playing the piano in the films?Sano:Always!
Because Christian is a pianist, classically trained.
Hes very highbrow and cultured and thats a big part of his character.
Its not the same movie moment.
Its personally one of my favorite songs and you could buy into Christian playing it.
Its something Ana would put on while cooking him dinner.
Had you mapped out certain aspects of the franchises music from the beginning?
But there was no denying For You and how great Rita is on it, so it made sense.
Knobloch: Obviously, Rita started in the movies as an actress.
So on the first movie, there was no question.
On the second movie, thats when the conversations started.
But where in the movie would you put a Rita Ora song?
Its nothing against Rita.
Its just our general philosophy.
That was a toe in the water, almost an Easter egg.
We relaxed the rules a bit and now she has the anthem of the movie.
Once she showed up, it was a whole new song.
What she heard and what we ended up with were very different.
It very quickly and organically played out that she turned it into a duet.
If it had been too close in either direction, we wouldnt have had a shot.
These things require magic fairy dust sometimes.
Unlike Taylor, sexual subversivenessis the Weeknds brand.
But you guys caught him when he was still on the bubble of pop stardom.
It was a work in progress, a minimal sketch.
We knew immediately we needed him to finish it.
[Taylor-Johnson] turned to me and said, Thats our song.
We fought hard for it because Abel wasnt a household name.
The timing could not have been better.
It became the signature song.
Love Me Like You Do is equally synonymous with the franchise.
It plays over a montage of scenes from the whole trilogy.
Levy: Thats our anthem.
So what better way to bookend the films?
It gave me goosebumps, hearing it while watching the last five years of our lives.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
