Category: INterview

Dec 9, 2025

by DJFAN

Dakota Johnson Talks Dark Side Of Producing: “You See Behind The Curtain & It’s Ugly” – Red Sea

Dakota Johnson has been juggling acting and producing since the creation of TeaTime Pictures, a joint venture with former Netflix exec Ro Donnelly, in 2019.

The actress revealed in an onstage conversation at the Red Sea Film Festival on Friday, that producing was a natural progression.

“I grew up in this industry. I grew up on set watching my parents work and watching how they would engage with filmmakers, producers and collaborators and I always wanted to be a larger part of the project.” Said Johnson, referring to her parents Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith.
“As I moved on in my career, I wanted to make my own projects and explore parts of myself and artistry that other people weren’t seeing… we’re drawn by female driven, human experience projects. I want to make movies about women and people who are going through some sort of evolution, internally and externally.”

The company has a clutch of announced projects in the works including sci-fi action pictures Trudy Blue and Johnson’s directorial debut A Tree Is Blue, written by and starring autistic actress Vanessa Burghardt, her co-star in TeaTime Pictures’ first production Cha Cha Real Smooth.

However, Johnson kept its activities under wraps in the talk and did not even give an update on her own film A Tree Is Blue.

Talking about her acting choices, Johnson said she had become savvier about the roles accepted.

“I’m learning more how to choose what’s right for me. I’ve definitely been persuaded to do some things in the past I realized in retrospect weren’t right for me, but that’s also part of the experience,” she said.

“Now I’m looking at… where is this person in me and how can I stretch myself. I want to evolve more and as an actress go to places I don’t think I was able to go, I want to expel things, there’s a lot I need to get out and I think I can find projects where I can that,” she said.

With seven years and seven completed productions under her belt as a producer, Johnson said she found producing harder than acting.

“I honestly think producing is more challenging. There’s something about acting where I feel, I’m in a bubble, and producing, you see behind the curtain and it’s really ugly… realizing that financiers are really shady sometimes is heartbreaking.”

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Dakota Johnson says cinema “feels really grim” in US right now, feels inspired by Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea

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Dec 9, 2025

by DJFAN

Dakota Johnson says cinema “feels really grim” in US right now, feels inspired by Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea

Dakota Johnson said cinema “feels really grim” in the US right now, in stark contrast to her initial experience at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival.
“There’s so much I’m learning from being here,” said Johnson. “In the States it feels really grim; and even in the less than 24 hours that I’ve been here [in Saudi Arabia], I have a renewed faith in cinema.”

Johnson was giving the latest In Conversation session at the festival, in which she discussed running her own production company TeaTime Pictures.

She did not directly reference the Netflix acquisition of Warner Bros, news of which was announced shortly before her session.

“The thing I feel about this festival is inspired,” said Johnson. “I feel inspired to operate this way in our own production company in the States; I want to support all these filmmakers.”

Johnson also praised Jomana R. Alrashid, chairwoman of the Red Sea Film Foundation. “Jomana – what a woman,” said the actress. “I’m kind of at a loss for words.”

The 35-minute session ran shorter than most of the other In Conversation events, with Johnson not taking any audience questions at the end.

Having come to worldwide renown for her role as Anastasia Steele in the Fifty Shades Of Grey trilogy, Johnson has appeared in films including Luca Guadagnino’s A Bigger Splash and Suspiria, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter, Carrie Cracknell’s Jane Austen adaptation Persuasion, and Sony blockbuster Madame Web.

This year she starred in Michael Angelo Covino’s Cannes Premiere title Splitsville, and Celine Song’s romantic drama Materialists with Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal.

Her upcoming titles include Michael Showalter’s crime drama Verity with Anne Hathaway and Josh Hartnett; and Johnson’s own directorial debut A Tree Is Blue, starring Charli XCX, Vanessa Burghardt and fellow Red Sea attendee Jessica Alba.

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Dakota Johnson Used an Intimacy Coordinator for the First Time on New Movie and ‘She Was Really Great’: Sex Scenes ‘Are Not Sexy. It Doesn’t Feel Good’

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Jun 22, 2025

by DJFAN

Dakota Johnson Used an Intimacy Coordinator for the First Time on New Movie and ‘She Was Really Great’: Sex Scenes ‘Are Not Sexy. It Doesn’t Feel Good’

Dakota Johnson has been acting for 15 years, but she revealed during an interview on Amy Poehler’s “Good Hang” podcast that just used an intimacy coordinator for the very first time on a recent movie production. Despite earning international fame with the “Fifty Shades of Grey” trilogy, which included a lot of nudity and sex scenes, Johnson noted there were “no intimacy coordinators then.”

“She was really great,” Johnson said about her first intimacy coordinator. “It was so cool because I’m so used to — you know, it’s a sex scene. It’s not sexy. It doesn’t feel good.”
Johnson has acted in many sex scenes throughout her career and walked Poehler through her mental approach to such material.

“First, I think it depends on, who is the character, and who is the character supposed to be to the audience,” Johnson explained. “Is she a super idolized hot girl? Is she a housewife? Is she lonely? Is she scared? Is she conservative? So, that’s obviously character work, but then certain prep would go into it. I want to feel good in my body if I’m showing my body. My mom raised me to be really, really proud of my body and love my body. So, I’ve always felt so grateful for that, especially in my work because I can use it and it feels real.”

Johnson filmed many intimate scenes for the “Fifty Shades” movies. She told Vanity Fair in 2022 that making the movies was “psychotic.”

“I signed up to do a very different version of the film we ended up making,” Johnson said at the time. “[E.L. James] had a lot of creative control, all day, every day, and she just demanded that certain things happen. There were parts of the books that just wouldn’t work in a movie, like the inner monologue, which was at times incredibly cheesy. It wouldn’t work to say out loud. It was always a battle. Always. When I auditioned for that movie, I read a monologue from ‘Persona’ and I was like, ‘Oh, this is going to be really special.’”
Johnson said making the “Fifty Shades” trilogy “became something crazy,” adding, “There were a lot of different disagreements. I haven’t been able to talk about this truthfully ever, because you want to promote a movie the right way, and I’m proud of what we made ultimately and everything turns out the way it’s supposed to, but it was tricky.”
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