On Monday, Michael De Luca, one of the producers of the upcoming Fifty Shades of Grey film adaptation, spoke about losing Charlie Hunnam, the hunt for the new Christian Grey and the strength of Dakota Johnson during this unsure time.

De Luca was on the red carpet for the 2013 Hollywood Film Awards when he gushed about Johnson, who will play Anastasia Steele, the college student seduced by the kinky Christian Grey, being "our rock."

"She's just so Anastasia Steele," De Luca told E! News. "She's the best partner a producer could have."

Recently, a source told E! News that, "The studio isn't worried about Dakota. They think she could handle whoever [the next Christian Grey] is." De Luca, on the other hand, said that chemistry is still a factor when it comes to finding Anastasia's S&M partner.

"She's helping us look through the candidates to see which chemistry kind of captures our attention," De Luca told E! News.

Still, as filming is scheduled to begin Nov. 13, producers cannot be absurdly picky. Johnson's flexibility helps.

"I happen to think Dakota could have chemistry with a mailbox, but we're going to help her out and hook her up with the right person," De Luca told Los Angeles Times. 

Rumors have it that Jamie Dornan is a frontrunner to replace Hunnam, but De Luca said that they are still looking high and low for the perfect sex-loving businessman.

"We're looking on your website," the producer joked to E! News. "We're looking under rocks in Zimbabwe, in space, on the moon. We're looking everywhere, but I think in a couple weeks it will be announced and everything will be cool."

The producer would not say whether or not rumors about Dornan were true, but he did say that the new Christian would be a "fresh face."

"I feel like everyone has an idea of what these characters look like and sound like, so to present the world with fresh faces , where no pre-conceived notions or baggage come with it, is best," he told Los Angeles Times. "It's like casting Superman or James Bond. A fresh face is appropriate."

As for Hunnam, who Universal Pictures and Focus Features say dropped out of the film because of a busy TV schedule, De Luca has faith that their paths will cross again.

"Charlie, I think, is an amazing actor of his generation or any generation, and we just couldn't make it work in the time he had to transform into Christian Grey,  but I think if it is meant to be it is meant to be," De Luca told E! News. "I'm convinced we'll work together again."

According to De Luca, Fifty Shades of Grey will still see an Aug. 1, 2014 release.