"Fifty Shades Darker" is gearing up for production as What's Filming reports that the sequel to "Fifty Shades of Grey" will start filming on Feb. 16 in Vancouver and British Columbia.
The final installment in the trilogy, "Fifty Shades Freed," will be filmed right after production wraps on the second film, and it was reported that filming for both movies will be finished within the year.
Variety reports that as Universal plans to shoot the last two installments back to back, it was important to lock down cast before production began on "Fifty Shades Darker."
Ahead of the start of filming, it was reported that Kim Basinger has signed on to star as Elena Lincoln. The "L.A. Confidential" star will be playing the part of Christian Grey's (Jamie Dornan) former lover and business partner.
Basinger rose to fame in the 1980s in movies such as "9 ½ Weeks," "My Mother Is an Alien," and "Batman." She was last seen in 2014's "The Eleventh Hour" and the actress will star in this year's "The Nice Guys" along with Ryan Gosling, Matt Bomer, and Russell Crowe.
In the "Fifty Shades" books by E.L. James, Elena is introduced in the second book and she becomes an antagonist for Ana Steele (Dakota Johnson). Ana meets Elena at a masquerade ball at Dr. and Mrs. Grey's residence and she finds out that Christian and Elena own a chain of salons together. Later on, Ana and Christian get engaged, and when Elena finds out about it she confronts Ana and tells her that she will never meet Christian's needs.
The second and third installment of the film franchise will be directed by James Foley. James's husband, Niall Leonard, will be writing the screenplay for both films.
"Fifty Shades Darker" is slated to premiere on Feb. 10, 2017.
