You're probably sick and tired of hearing rumors about the Fifty Shades of Grey movie, right? Me too, thanks to the near-constant barrage of increasingly weird casting speculation (at this point they could announce that it's starring Steve Buschemi alongside a taxidermied alpaca and I don't think I'd blink an eye), but this latest tidbit is WAY too juicy not to share. According to actor James Franco, the director for Fifty Shades of Grey may be … drumroll, please … Gus Van Sant.

I KNOW, RIGHT? Gus Van Sant the indie darling, the guy behind My Own Private Idaho, Drugstore Cowboy, and Good Will Hunting, directing the world's most anticipated BDSM romance! CRAZINESS.

And guess who's throwing their hat into the oh-so-crowded ring to play Christian Grey? I'll give you a hint: he earned an Oscar nomination, but bombed big-time as an Oscars host.

Oh yeah, that would be James Franco himself, who's on quite the roll lately with sex-oriented movies. Here's what he said yesterday from the Sundance Film Festival, when asked about the forthcoming film adaptation of Fifty Shades:

It sounds interesting. I heard Gus [Van Sant] might direct it. If he directed it, I'd do it.

Okay, first: LOL at "I'd do it." Yeah, I'm thinking he's not exactly a no-brainer shoe-in, being as how there's like seventy frillion hotties who are champing at the bit for this part. Also, I kind of think his offscreen image is too scruffy and stoner-y for the role, despite the fact that he's really a gorgeous dude under that facial hair and cheesy grin:

But back to Gus Van Sant: what do you think about the possibility of him directing? I love the idea, personally. It's like when I first heard that Brett Easton Ellis was interested in writing (before Ellis turned into a Twitter mega-douche, that is), I'm intrigued by the possibility of an unconventional, boundary-pushing creative behind the scenes on this particular film. I mean, the right person could make this into a dirty-movie classic -- like The Lover, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, or Henry and June. Or it could be a corny, tone-deaf, commercialized mess. I'm thinking Gus Van Sant has a better shot at the former, don't you?

Gus Van Sant's potential involvement is still firmly mired in rumor-land, but it doesn't seem entirely unlikely -- apparently he just finished Promised Land, which is from Focus Features, the same production company for Fifty Shades of Grey. Hmmmmm.

Personally, I hope it's true, because I think a Gus Van Sant-directed Fifty Shades sounds really interesting. As for James Franco starring … boy, I just don't know. He cleans up nice, buuuuut I can't quite get this mental picture out of my head. ("Hey, this is Christian Grey … heh, heh. Uhhhhhhh. I dunno. Um. Laters.")

What do you think about the idea of Gus Van Sant directing Fifty Shades of Grey?

Image via EL James