Lucy Hale Is Still Mortified By Her “Sexually Forward” Fifty Shades Of Grey Audition

Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan were hand chosen to bring the sizzling story of E. L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey series to life in the film adaptations, but #Christasia almost had a completely different energy. Actress Lucy Hale could’ve been your wide-eyed, innocent heroine, but the universe had very different plans in mind.

The popular erotic thriller follows the torrid sexual relationship between Anastasia Steele, a timid young woman, and Christian Grey, the powerful businessman who pursues her romantically. Full disclosure, Fifty Shades of Grey isn’t really a plot movie; the promise of kinky love scenes was what caused most of its audiences to swarm cinemas year after year. Coincidentally, the graphic nature of the project was also what terrified Hale, even as she auditioned for a place in James’ sex-driven world.

Hale reminisced about the nerve-wracking audition experience in a recent interview with Associated Press, sharing that she was “mortified” by the prospect of having to be so sexual onscreen.

"It wasn't actual scenes from the movie, but it was a very sexually forward monologue," she recalled of her Fifty Shades audition. "And I didn't really even know what I was saying."

"I obviously didn't get the part," Hale laughed. "But it was good for me because it scared the crap out of me to do an audition like that.”

If Hale was nervous about playing Anastasia just based off a short monologue, then it's definitely for the best that she didn't get the gig because the franchise just got more explicit as the storyline progressed. It isn't 365 Days-level dirty — aggressively (honestly too) hot mob boss Massimo Torricelli will have you sweating and squirming like a sinner in church— but Johnson and Dornan really had to take it there for the rest of the trilogy.

Not that Hale herself isn't down for more adult roles. Her latest project, A Nice Girl Like You, casts her as a young woman actively trying to spice up her sex life in order to prove her ex-boyfriend wrong. Reading the script for the film was just as embarrassing for the actress, but something about this character's journey resonated with her.

"I read the whole script and was so embarrassed and blushing the whole time," Hale revealed to E! News. "The whole time I was reading it, I was just laughing my butt off, and it made me feel uncomfortable. Like, really uncomfortable. So I knew that I had to do it just to break me out of my shell."

While A Nice Girl Like You sports the same R-rating as Fifty Shades, there's clearly a vast difference in subject matter because one of them still has Hale fully embarrassed a whole decade later. I guess red room sex isn't for everybody.