Malaysia bans Fifty Shades of Grey screening

Los Angeles - Fifty Shades of Grey has been banned in Malaysia.

The erotic film will not show in cinemas across the Asian country after the Film Censorship Board deemed it "more like pornography than a movie".

The board's chairman Datuk Abdul Halim Abdul Hamid said: "The board made a decision in view of the film containing scenes that are not of natural sexual content.

"The content is more sadistic, featuring scenes of a woman being tied to a bed and whipped."

It's not only Malaysian audiences that have been barred from watching the film, the lead actress Dakota Johnson - who plays Anastasia Steele - has revealed that whilst she is proud of the movie, she won't be letting her family or friends watch it.

This is the trailer of Fifty Shades of Grey:



She said: "My mom came up for a day [during filming]. She's proud of me.

"But I don't want my family to see [the movie] because it's inappropriate. Or my brothers' friends who I grew up with."

The novel - written by EL James - on which the film is based also received negative backlash from American libraries when it was released, with some refusing to hold any copies of the book.

Meanwhile, Jamie Dornan - who plays the film's protagonist, Christian Grey - recently defended the movie's sexual content.

He said: "I can understand why people say tying a woman up and spanking her is misogynistic. But actually, more men are submissive than women, very powerful men.

"The love story is more important than the BDSM aspect. I mean, we are going to tell a love story, you know, it can't just be what happens in the Red Room, that's not a film.

"There's so much more going on than that."