Pen envy, perhaps?
Bret Easton Ellis, who had expressed interest in adapting Fifty Shades of Grey for the big screen, lashed out today at the choice of Kelly Marcel to pen the screenplay.
And one of the film's producers in turn fired back at him for being a jerk.
"Kelly Marcel?!? KELLY MARCEL?!? Kelly Marcel is WRITING the script for 'Fifty Shades of Grey'?!? THIS is the movie they want to make? ARGH," Ellis tweeted this evening.
"Kelly Marcel: the creator of (gulp) 'Terra Nova' and a Mary Poppins bio-pic has been blessed by EL James and no one can stop her. Dear God," continued the American Psycho author.
Perhaps simultaneously angered and relieved that he didn't hire Ellis, Fifty Shades producer Dana Brunetti fired back at Ellis and unwittingly started a Twitter feud among Ellis fans, Ellis haters and people who just really didn't like the trailer for The Canyons.
"@BretEastonEllis Really, Bret? The day you release that 'trailer'. School film? You're losing it...," Brunetti tweeted (and later deleted), referring to the teaser that came out today for The Canyons, starring Lindsay Lohan and porn star James Deen.
"I love Brett Easton Ellis... I love Paul Schrader... THE CANYONS looks like the worst student film ever made," read one post retweeted by Brunetti, whose credits include The Social Network and Casino Jack (and, just to make it clear, not The Canyons).
"The canyons teaser could be the worst f--king thing I have ever seen. Smh," read another one.
"Shoot me now," Brunetti added, in reference to another tweeter's assumption: "I can only deduce that @DanaBrunetti is the EP / Producer of The Canyons. #AnyPressIsGoodPress."
"Apparently I've attacked @lindsaylohan. And now that I've @ her name I'm a media whore," reads Brunetti's latest tweet on the subject.
"@DanaBrunetti and what's more funny is that you got fooled, because that's a teaser trailer, the fans have been asking for them," apparent Ellis aficionado Shakira Khan offered up. "@DanaBrunetti fans loved it, but unfortunately Gawker hates it lol."
Kelly Marcel, meanwhile, is staying out of the fray, choosing to just happily tweet: "Beyond thrilled to be jumping aboard the 50 Shades train. Very exciting."
"@MissMarcel Excited to have you on board!" replied Brunetti.
Oh, and for anyone wondering when they were going to get the show on the road as far as picking their two leads goes, Brunetti offered up a helpful timeline: "Again, writer then script then director then cast..."