What It’s Like to “Stalk” the Fifty Shades Movie Set
After months of shooting in and around Vancouver, on-site production on the Fifty Shades movie sequels Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed just wrapped, author E. L. James confirmed on Instagram, barring reshoots. It’s likely been kinky hard work for all those involved on the films’ crew, and also for the ~hardcore~ fans (yes, that pun is intended) who’ve spent millions of hours watching and waiting and salivating over the filming process. Fans like Lisa Fish, otherwise known as Fifty Shades Girl Portland, a blogger and writer of the Fifty Shades Location Guides.
Over the past few months, Lisa has been a near-constant presence on (or, OK, as close as she can get to) the Fifty Shades set, watching exterior filming across the city and sourcing Intel from both the crew and a network of fellow fans on social media. She’s a treasure trove of information on all things related to the franchise, and spoke with Cosmopolitan.com about her best practices and biggest fangirl moments while on scene in Vancouver. Don’t ask for spoilers though, because she’s not here for that.
Is FSoG blogging your full-time gig?I mean, I’m a fan first. Right now, I have two good friends that are helping and supporting me because when you’re on the street all day … I tell them, I feel like I’m in a tunnel. I have no idea what’s going on outside of what I’m seeing and doing and I’m taking photos. But I don’t get paid for anything; I don’t sell any [of my photos]. I’ve been approached to sell, even though [the real-deal] paparazzi are here. They’re putting out so much stuff … I’m just different than them. They are going for the money shots, and I respect that.
Do you ever see this evolving — maybe one day you would want to sell your photos and intel? Right now, I’m happy doing what I’m doing. I’ve had to just consciously decide that I’m not posting [spoilers] — I could jump ahead and go take photos of where they’re going to be filming and post them. I’ve decided I’m not doing that. I’m not going there. I’m trying to maintain my integrity. I don’t want to spoil the movies! I don’t want to go there. I’m holding a few things now that I’m just going to sit on until they’re finished, and then I’ll share with the fans.
You’re with the same paparazzi every day, right? Do you have any sort of relationship with them now?They’re an … interesting group. They’re very big in Vancouver. We don’t have anything like them in Portland; there’s no paparazzi there. In Portland, I followed other shows — I’ve been following [the NBC show] Grimm for about two years, and I know the show’s cast and crew pretty well. I was also following Twilight before — the first movie was filmed all around Portland so I was out with friends, going to all the locations, scouting things out. But [Fifty Shades] is a different fandom than Twilight.
How so?It’s older — somewhat older. I don’t think you have the, “Oh my god, that’s…” fandom. Although the other day when I was filming Jamie Dornan, some girls came up behind me and they were freaking out. They were just so excited.
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How do you feel about the casting? Do you think they’ve done a good job?I think it’s wonderful. They’ve brought in a lot of really good people. I kind of met them — I came up for the [Fifty Shades of Gray] reshoots in October of 2014. I was working at the time, but I was able to drop it and just come. For the first two days [of reshoots], they were shooting downtown. I was able to follow along for all the scenes that were filmed outside. That was really incredible. And I met Jamie Dornan. Jamie is the nicest guy — his accent really surprised me. He made me fangirl! I didn’t meet Dakota, but I saw her and smiled at her a lot. I’ve met E. L. James and Dana Brunetti and Sam Taylor-Johnson. I actually got to talk with her [when I came up for reshoots] for a little bit, and she nicely signed a book I had for me. She was wonderful.
And do you watch the actors interact when they’re not shooting?I do a lot of that. They’re very friendly, always smiling and chatting with each other.
In terms of tracking them down, how do you keep up with where filming is happening?Twitter! That’s about it right now. I’m in a Twitter group [with other fans], so they can update me or tell me if something’s changed, if something’s going on, or if someone reported this.
E. L. James is really active on Instagram. If you know Vancouver, it’s very easy to see where she is.Yeah. I don’t know if she realized that. [Laughs.] She has also been on the set almost every day throughout filming and I admire her for it. She is always very positive to her fans — always with a wave or hello that we all appreciate. She is a remarkable woman.
But I don’t go to their hotels [or follow them from Instagram off-set] because that’s their personal life. I’m not going there. The filming, that’s my interest, seeing what’s happening on the set, seeing what’s happening on. It has been an amazing experience to be so close to it. The crew and actors have been incredibly kind and generous. I have learned so much about the technical side of filming by watching them.
