True Blood hunks fight for Fifty Shades of Grey lead

Both have expressed interest in playing Christian Grey, the billionaire BDSM master who takes virgin college graduate Anastasia Steele into his "Red Room of Pain".

"Sure, of course I'd be up for it!" Joe told reporters yesterday at the LA premiere of his stripper movie Magic Mike. "Why not?"

The 35-year-old hunk's Magic Mike co-star Channing Tatum is another fan favourite to play Grey, but he won't have a bar of it, answering a reporter asking his wife Jenna Dewan if she'd let him do the film.

"Why do you think she'd want me in that movie? Tell me one good reason," he said, adding that if his wife played Anastasia, "It would just be like turning on the video cameras in our bedroom". Really?.

Alexander Skarsgård recently told reporters he hadn't read the book, but was keen on the idea.

"Where do I sign?" he said. "He's got a sex chamber? My character has that on True Blood. He's got his little dungeon. I was born to play that part."

Inception actor Cillian Murphy also said he'd like to read the script.

"I haven't read the book," he told the The Wall Street Journal today. "I know everyone’s talking about it. The thing is, it's kind of random how you get jobs, you know?"

Earlier this month, American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis tweeted that he was pitching to adapt the book for Universal Studios and Focus Features, adding that "in a perfect world it would be Ryan Gosling as Christian Grey".

Facebook fans of the Fifty Shades trilogy are fiercely debating who is worthy of playing the 27-year-old sadistic-sex-loving Grey.

"Alexander Skarsgård is ideal, sexy, good on the eye, and more than that, he is not afraid to show off some flesh ... yummy," one user wrote on the 50 Shades Facebook page.

"NOT Skarsgård ... People are setting this bar way too low. There are actually very few who could fill those "off the hips" pants. I really hope they take their time and get it right," another wrote.

"You need a real hunk for the part. Chris Hemsworth all the way!" another fan suggested.

Aussie star Hemsworth is but one of dozens of actors fans are suggesting for the part, including Taylor Kitsch, Hayden Christensen, Alex Pettyfer, Gerard Butler, and even Kourtney Kardashian's partner Scott Disick (way off the mark, in our opinion!).

The role of Anastasia has also been the subject of hot debate. Young actresses Emma Roberts, Emma Stone, Kristen Stewart and Selena Gomez are buzzing on the rumour mill.

While fans continue to back-and-forth about casting, here's a little nugget from a Fifty Shades Facebook fan that sums up the whole phenomenon nicely:

"That awkward moment when you are reading Fifty Shades ... then mum brings you a nine-inch cannoli from the bakery."