Dakota Johnson: "Not everything you see on screen is mine"
The actress confesses that she had a body double in some scenes of '50 shades of Grey'
Dakota Johnson's lineage couldn't be longer. Tippi Hedren, Melanie Griffith, Don Johnson and even Antonio Banderas are or have been relatives of this young woman. "It was always clear to me that she would be an actress. First, because it's in my blood and, second, because I don't know how to do anything else," she is honest in English, although she admits that she knows some Spanish, but doesn't feel comfortable speaking it.
Despite her family tree, like any other 25-year-old girl, what she is interested in is carving out her own path. "We all want to break the family mold, the sanbenito of being her daughter, her granddaughter," she adds. And to get rid of it, nothing better than starring alongside Jamie Dornan in a film like 50 Shades of Grey, the film version of the great erotic bestseller written by E. L. James, which opens in Spain on February 13. The last thing anyone would think when seeing her bring to life the submissive Anastasia is what her family thinks of her. "I also had my doubts because of the enormity of the project, its popularity, but I was won over by this intriguing love story," she confesses.
It is a decadent fantasy that speaks of se*ual awakening and defends the right of women not to feel ashamed of their se*uality ”
Johnson resembles her father at times and her mother at others. She says so herself. She also relies on having Melanie's humor and her grandmother's strength, two women who, as she defines it, have had an "amazing" career as actresses. From both, just like from Johnson, she learned to feel comfortable in the industry, and from Banderas, if she learned something, she does not say it because her representative has recommended that she not mention her stepfather.
Her mood remains shy, although she assures that Anastasia has learned to speak in public, to feel more comfortable in front of people, and she laughs remembering her coming-out in Hollywood, when she was Miss Golden Globes during the award ceremony of these awards a few years ago. In all the photos she appears carrying her back as if she wanted to disappear from the public light. And now she does it naked in front of the cameras. "Not everything you see on the screen is mine!" the actress proclaims.
She asks: To star in 50 Shades of Gray she has to be very comfortable with her body.
R. I always was. My parents are open-minded and not at all conservative. But even so, I also thought that she was going to be scared during the whole shoot and she wasn't.
Q. What made her feel more comfortable?
R. Thinking about how scary the se* or nu** scenes were going to give me, but realizing that they are nothing compared to the moment before, when you are thinking about it.
Q. Why did the story intrigue you so much?
R. Because the loss of virginity is the most important moment, or one of the most important, for a woman. And, of course, curiosity. If Anastasia and I have anything alike, it's that we're both discreet and curious.
Dakota Johnson is also playful. She says that she is nervous about what is coming her way with the premiere of a film that, directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, is expected to exceed 50 million euros in grosses during its first weekend in the US. The novel on which it is inspired has sold more than 100 million copies worldwide. Melanie read it first. Don never did. And her Dakota, blushing, assures her that she didn't even talk to her parents before accepting the role and she is sure they won't see the movie. “I don't even want them to see it!” She exclaims in embarrassment. She has nothing to do with the quality of the tape. She figures that there will be people who don't like her. And others who will cry out to heaven. She likes controversy and she fights but honestly assures that people will be pleasantly surprised by the film. "It is a decadent fantasy that speaks of se*ual awakening and defends the right of women not to feel ashamed of their se*uality," she adds.
Antonio Banderas gave him his first screen job when he directed it with his mother in Locos en Alabama. He was 10 years old. But it took another seven for her to be sure that she wanted to be an actress. She realized it by watching The Imaginary Invalid. Until then, she lived happily on her family's ranch in Colorado (USA), with her donkey, Elvis, her snake, St. Ignatius, and a handful of dogs, horses, pigs, and occasional sheep. . She could have been worse and taken to the lions like her grandmother at the Shambhala animal sanctuary. But when she saw Molière's play she was possessed by the desire to stop dressing up and pretending to be someone else in real life and doing it on film. "So I can be myself in real life," Johnson sums up. She claims to be someone who refuses to spend her life wondering what others will think of her. "Still, it seems very strange and remote to me to see myself on the screen," she concludes with her own laugh, unashamed but amused at seeing that other person who is not her play the roles she chooses.
