Sam Taylor-Johnson
Sam Taylor-Johnson serves as director for Netflix’s upcoming series, “Gypsy.” Pictured: Taylor-Johnson at the 2015 MOCA Gala presented by Louis Vuitton at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA in Los Angeles on May 30, 2015. Getty Images/Frazer Harrison

“Fifty Shades of Grey” director Sam Taylor-Johnson recently broke her silence on the feud she had with book author E.L. James on the set of the movie.

While speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, the 50-year-old director admitted that she and James butted heads over almost everything, creatively. “Two different creative visions. Her vision versus mine, and they were polar opposite. Every scene was fought over. It was tough. It was like wading uphill through sticky tar. Her thing was, ‘This is what the fans expect.’ I’d be like, ‘Well, let’s try and hit those marks but create a new universe at the same time,’” she said.

Read: What’s next for Jamie Dornan after “Fifty Shades Freed”?

“Fifty Shades of Grey” became a huge success. Despite some negative reviews, the film became the second-highest-grossing film adaptation directed by a woman. It is only below “Mamma Mia!” which garnered $609 million worldwide. However, even though the first of the three films was a huge success and Taylor-Johnson received approximately $2 million for directing the film, she did not receive much love from fans, as well as the people in the industry.

“There weren’t any flat-out offers straight away. It was ego-denting, which may not have been a bad thing. At the same time, I was like, ‘Oh, I still have to keep fighting for stuff.’ I just thought it was going to come a lot easier,” she said.

Taylor-Johnson also said that there were initial plans to still involve her in “Fifty Shades Darker” and “Fifty Shades Freed.” However, nothing was finalized because Universal Studios still wanted to see how the film would do. In terms of box office, “Fifty Shades of Grey” did well, but it was the director’s issues with James that ultimately made her lose to “Fifty Shades Darker” and “Fifty Shades Freed” director James Foley.

After her axing from the project, Taylor-Johnson said that she stopped looking at any scripts. She doesn’t even remember if she was ever given a script for “Captain Marvel.” A year later, when she was finally prepared to get back to work, she received a script for “Gypsy” and immediately got on board. The Netflix series stars Naomi Watts as Jean Holloway, and it will stream starting June 30.

RELATED STORIES