Dakota Johnson has spoken out about the behind-the-scenes drama that occurred during making of the Fifty Shades of Grey movies in an interview with Vanity Fair, seven years after the first film in the series was released. First, it’s important to note that Dakota refers to Fifty Shades as “those enormous nude flicks.” As for me, I’d want to retort, “Don’t we all?
In the cover story, Dakota explains that she is “a sexual person” and wanted to explore the topics that E. L. James so expertly developed in the original book series, which led her to accept the part of Anastasia Steele. However, none of it really materialised….
Dakota said to the magazine, “I signed up to do a totally different version of the film we ended up creating.” Reasons given included the studio, the filmmaker, and E. L. James (real name Erika) herself.
“[Erika] had a lot of creative control, all day, every day, and she basically insisted that certain things happen,” said Dakota. A lot of the novels’ inner monologues were quite clichéd, and that kind of writing wouldn’t translate well to the big screen. Saying it aloud would not have the desired effect. This was a constant uphill struggle. Always.”
“We’d do the takes of the movie that Erika wanted to make, and then we’d do the takes of the movie that we wanted to create,” she said.
Dakota noted that despite the difficulties, she had known from the film’s audition that it would be important. “I recited a monologue from Persona during my audition and thought, ‘Oh, this is going to be very remarkable.'”
The shooting process “become something wild” and “was tough,” Dakota said, particularly when her initial co-star Charlie Hunnam stepped out due to a schedule problem. (Jamie Dornan took his place.) Overall, however, Dakota is “proud with what we created” and doesn’t have many regrets. She remarked, “I don’t believe anybody would’ve done it if they knew that’s what it was going to be like at the time.” They would have said, ‘Oh, this is insane,'” he said. However, I do not feel any remorse.
Dakota adds that, all things considered, the event was a positive one and, at the very least, fascinating. She remarked that both she and Jamie had received excellent service. I appreciate Erika’s kindness and the fact that she cast me in her films since she is a wonderful person. … This was a huge step forward in our professional development. How incredible. Lucky duck. And yet, it seemed strange. Just plain strange.
