Magazine Scan - Dakota and Jamie in Voyage Magazine March 2018 Issue
It is so painless to choose the same profession as their parents. Especially not if the parents are known and scandalous. The American actor Dakota Johnson, 28, who is known for her role in Fifty Shades Freed.
Dakota Johnson is the daughter of actors Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson. Melanie was one of 80’s most popular movie stars, famous for her roles in movies like Body Double, Something Wild and Working Girl. In recent years, we have not heard much from her. Dakota’s dad is Don Johnson, best known from the classic 80s series Miami Vice. Grandmother is Tippi Hedren, who was Alfred Hitchcock’s favorite actress and most famous from the Hitchcock movies The Birds and Marnie. Dakota’s stiff cardboard is Antonio Banderas, who we saw in films like Matador, Desperado, Frida and Evita. Dakota grew up with her mother Melanie and her stepfather Antonio, who were married for 19 years.
“Antonio worked a lot when I was little,” said Dakota Johnson to VOYAGE. “My little sister, Stella, and I followed him and mom on sets all over the world. My childhood was the clean frame carousel. There was really no normal upbringing. I never forget when we lived in Budapest for six months while Antonio filmed Evita alongside Madonna.”
“I went to school in the hotel room and spent the rest of the time with various babysitters. I used to be on my travels and had to get new friends when I came to new places. There were no routines in our family life. When I moved to Los Angeles as a teenager to study, I had difficulty adapting to how other people lived.”
Through mom Melanie, Dakota has seen the backside of the celebrity. In recent years, Melanie has had difficulty getting good film and television roles, she has been tampered with addiction and suffered from depression.
“The film industry is brutal against women,” said Dakota. “Mommy has worked in turns over the years, but I really wish she got a big, interesting role again. But it’s tough for women in this industry. It’s sad that the movie industry survives on what’s popular and not what’s good.”
Despite her growing up in the film industry and a family who wanted Dakota to choose a different profession than acting, she was as if she had no choice.
“I should have chosen to do something else with my life. But I can not do anything else. I was never very good at school. All I’m good at is being an actor, so it’s like I had no other choice.”
The first film role made by Dakota was in the movie Crazy In Alabama, where mom Melanie played the female lead and Antonio Banderas directed.
“I thought it was fun to pretend to be someone else in front of the camera. But I understand that my parents were worried. They did not want me to be an actor because they know how terrible it may be. They did not want me to be hurt by criticism and magazine writings.”
After several smaller roles in different TV shows and movies, Dakota’s breakthrough in a small but attentive role, alongside Justin Timberlake in The Social Network. Director Sam Taylor Johnson saw the movie and invited Dakota to an audition for the role of Anastasia Steel in the film of the popular erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James. Dakota’s family advised her not to take the role, as it would mean many naked scenes.
“All I knew that they advised me not to do the movie! But I defied them. I was not worried about the naked scenes. Being naked in movies is very interesting for an actor. There is nowhere to hide and I feel no shame. I hate when people have sex on the movies but still have the clothes on. Really, we are naked when we have sex and then it should be in films too.”
Dakota defied all the good advice and decided to make the film. It was a success. Now the third movie in the trilogy is out, and Dakota and Jamie Doran, who plays the male lead role as the successful billionaire Christian Grey, take their roles for the last time.
“It feels strange that it’s over now,” said Dakota. “Jamie and I have become very good friends. We are friends for life. There were no barriers between us when we shot the movies. It was very honest and trustworthy to work with him. The sex scenes could have been insanely embarrassing, but along with Jamie, it worked well.”
She adds that of course there was a risk.
“What if Jamie proved to be an idiot? Then it would have been awful to work with him. There is no makeup, no clothes that say something about the story, no jewelry that gives a clue about the social status. Everything is about the appearance. I love my role character Anastasia. She’s a real hard thing. She is hyper-intelligent and hypersexual and very tough and loving.”
Dakota and Jamie laughed a lot together during the filming.
“It happened many times that he whispered something funny in my ear, and I laughed so loudly that the film had to be interrupted. But it was good, it’s important that the workplace is comfortable and that you are happy with your colleagues.”
Dakota says that no one in the family has seen the movies, as she understands. There are new movies that both parents and grandmothers can see without feeling uncomfortable. Later this year, she comes in two different films alongside, among others, Shia LaBeouf and Tilda Swinton. And right now she is filming the Bad Times at the El Royale, with Chris Hemsworth and Russell Crowe.
Dakota tells us that some men appear strange in her company after the Fifty Shades films:
“Men are often afraid of me. They may think that I should be as sexually liberated as my role character. I’m not like her in reality, but it can be hard for people to understand.”
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