Prepare for fifty shades of Victor Rasuk…

The 29-year-old Dominican American actor has been added to the ensemble cast of Fifty Shades of Grey, the film adaptation of the hit novel of the same name.

Rasuk, the former star of HBO’s How to Make It in America, will portray Jose Rodriquez, an aspiring photographer and Anastasia Steele’s classmate. His close relationship with the co-ed pits him against Christian Grey.

Jamie Dornan will play the bondage enthusiast Christian, replacing Charlie Hunnam who abruptly left the project earlier this year. Dakota Johnson will portray the college student Anastasia, Jennifer Ehle stars as her on-screen mother and Luke Grimes as Christian’s brother Elliot.

The filming was supposed to kick off in November but has been pushed to December, just eight months before the planned August 1, 2014 release date, as the script is being polished by The Wolverine scribe Mark Bomback.

Sam Taylor-Johnson will direct the film.

Rasuk had a breakout performance as the lead in Peter Sollett‘s 2002 indie Raising Victor Vargas and then went on to play a skateboarding pioneer in Catherine Hardwicke‘s 2005 Lords of Dogtown. He has also appeared in Steven Soderbergh‘s The Argentine and most recently in the Steve Jobs biopic jOBS.

He will next star in Godzilla long with Taylor-Johnson’s husband Aaron Johnson.