Dakota Johnson was only ten when she made her film debut with a minor role in the dark comedy film Crazy in Alabama (1999). Although she continued to land small roles in popular movies and TV series such as The Social Network (2010) and The Office, her career took a turn for the best in 2015, when she portrayed Anastasia Steele in 50 Shades of Grey. Her role in this movie even earned her a BAFTA Rising Star Award nomination.
The 50 Shades saga was a worldwide phenomenon from the moment the first book was published. And the movies only added more fuel to the fire. Despite the success of these movies, Johnson has opened up about how hard it was to make them. The actress admitted that no one would have wanted to film Fifty Shades if they knew about all the drama that went on behind the scenes. To summarize it, she called the experience borderline psychotic.
Dakota Johnson Revealed Filming The Fifty Shades Movies Was ‘Psychotic’ Because Of The Books’ Author
In 2015, Dakota Johnson gained international stardom by playing one of the lead roles in Fifty Shades of Grey. Johnson won this role over more well-known actresses such as Lucy Hale, Felicity Jones, Elizabeth Olsen, Danielle Panabaker, and Shailene Woodley.
Johnson told Vanity Fair that she accepted the role of Anastasia Steele because she’s a “sexual person.” But ultimately, filming Fifty Shades wasn’t a great experience. One of the biggest issues was that she had “signed up to do a very different version of the film we ended up making.” The creative differences between her and the production team were huge. “There were a lot of different disagreements. I haven’t been able to talk about this truthfully ever,” the actress explained.
All of this made the filming process weird and psychotic. “I was young. I was 23,” Johnson recalls, “so it was crazy. It just became something crazy.” The actress explained that the problems came from a combination of factors, including the studio and the directors. But ultimately, the biggest issue “was also the author of the books.”
E.L. James had previously worked as a television executive before publishing 50 Shades of Grey in 2011. So, she served as the film’s assistant director to make make sure her novel was adapted just like she had envisioned. However, this caused many issues with the cast and crew. “She had a lot of creative control, all day, every day, and she just demanded that certain things happen,” Johnson said of the author.
“There were parts of the books that just wouldn’t work in a movie, like the inner monologue, which was at times incredibly cheesy,” she explained, adding that James wouldn’t bulge, and they ended up adding these scenes to the movie. “It was always a battle. Always. Ultimately, Johnson admitted that she didn’t sign up for what Fifty Shades turned into.
Did Dakota Johnson And Jamie Dornan Get Along While Filming Fifty Shades?
In addition to creative differences with the author of the books, Dakota Johnson was rumored to be feuding with her co-star Jamie Dornan while they worked in the Fifty Shades movies. But the actress denied such rumors. “There was never a time when we didn’t get along,” she told Vanity Fair. “He’s like a brother to me. I love him so, so, so much. And we were really there for each other. We had to really trust each other and protect each other.”
Dornan was cast as Christian Grey after Charlie Hunnam had to step down from the role due to scheduling conflicts. Around this time, E.L. James was so enraged that she scrapped the script Patrick Marber had written for the movie. That’s when she began taking a bigger creative role in the film.
Ultimately, Johnson and Dornan teamed up with director Sam Taylor-Johnson to try to salvage part of the original script behind the author’s back.
“We’d do the takes of the movie that Erika [James] wanted to make, and then we would do the takes of the movie that we wanted to make,” Johnson says. “The night before, I would rewrite scenes with the old dialogue so I could add a line here and there. It was like mayhem all the time.” But only one scene of the original script was made to the movie. It is the scene in which Anastasia and Christian negotiate their sexual contract. “And it’s the best scene in the whole movie,” Johnson admitted.
Does Dakota Johnson Regret Making Fifty Shades of Grey?
Although she didn’t expect Fifty Shades to turn out the way it did, Dakota Johnson doesn’t regret making this movie. “Erika is a very nice woman, and she was always kind to me and I am grateful she wanted me to be in those movies. Look, it was great for our careers,” she says. “So amazing. So lucky. But it was weird. So, so weird.”
Although the actress admitted that if someone had told her how chaotic it would be to make the movies, maybe she wouldn’t have taken the role in the first place. “If I had known at the time that’s what it was going to be like, I don’t think anyone would’ve done it. It would’ve been like, ‘Oh, this is psychotic.’ But no, I don’t regret it.”
