{"id":219991,"date":"2025-12-07T10:48:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T10:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/219991\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T10:48:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T10:48:16","slug":"dakota-johnson-has-a-love-hate-relationship-with-acting-and-producing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/219991\/","title":{"rendered":"Dakota Johnson Has a Love-Hate Relationship With Acting and Producing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tDakota Johnson<\/a> revealed she has a \u201clove-hate relationship\u201d with aspects of her job as an actress, and now as a producer, due to the \u201cshady\u201d elements in the entertainment industry, as well as the \u201cexhausting\u201d internal battles she has to endure as a performer trying \u201cfight with myself to get to an emotional place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTaking part in the \u201cIn Conversation With\u201d talk series at Saudi Arabia<\/a>\u2018s Red Sea International<\/a> Film Festival on Friday, a candid Johnson opened up about her career, reflecting on particular projects she was most proud of and providing insights on her push to become a producer through her production company TeaTime Pictures. <\/p>\n

\n\tJohnson spoke at length about her difficulties with the darker side of Hollywood, something she has had to deal with more and more since she moved into producing and financing her projects. \u201cFinanciers are really shady sometimes. It is heartbreaking. As a producer, it can be very heartbreaking. As an actress, it can be heartbreaking,\u201d she said, before adding, \u201cBut then both [producing and acting] are so incredibly fulfilling, and I feel very grateful that I\u2019m able to do both.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tShe added that she found producing as more of a challenge than acting because \u201cthere\u2019s something about acting where I feel I\u2019m in a bubble, and [with] producing you see behind the curtain, and it\u2019s really ugly.\u201d Adding that she both doesn\u2019t like that, but also loves it at the same time. <\/p>\n

\n\tAsked why she was moving into producing, Johnson said that from \u201cwatching my parents work and watching how they would engage with filmmakers and producers and collaborators, I always wanted to be a larger part of the project.\u201d She added that as her career developed she \u201cjust wanted to make my own projects and explore parts of myself and my artistry that I think other people weren\u2019t seeing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDakota Johnson takes a selfie with fans at the opening night red carpet for \u2018Giant\u2019 at the Red Sea International Film Festival<\/a> 2025. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVittorio Zunino Celotto\/Getty Imagesfor the Red Sea International Film Festival<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Materialists star runs TeaTime with her producing partner and best friend Ro Donnelly, and the company has been behind the indie features Splitsville (2025), Daddio (2023), Am I OK? (2022) and Sundance winner Cha Cha Real Smooth (2022), as well as the documentary The Disappearance of Shere Hite (2023). Johnson said the company is focusing \u201cmostly female-driven, human experience projects.\u201d \u201cI want to make movies about women and people that are going through some sort of evolution internally or externally,\u201d she said. TeaTime is also producing Johnson\u2019s feature directorial debut, A Tree Is Blue, which stars fellow Red Sea attendee, and budding producer, Jessica Alba.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tJohnson, who is the daughter of actors Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, and the granddaughter of screen legend Tippi Hedren, said she \u201calways wanted to be an actress,\u201d and \u201calways wanted to do what I saw my mom doing,\u201d but the experience has not always been smooth, and confessed that she\u2019s taken on projects in the past that weren\u2019t \u201cright for me.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m learning more now how to choose what\u2019s right for me,\u201d she said. \u201cI think I\u2019ve definitely been persuaded to do some things in the past that I realized, in retrospect, weren\u2019t right for me. But that\u2019s also part of the experience, and I\u2019m lucky to have a job.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tReflecting on her career, Johnson said that working on Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz\u2019s 2019 dramedy The Peanut Butter Falcon was one of the \u201cgreatest experiences\u201d of her career. \u201cWe were shooting in Savannah, Georgia and, it was just me and [Zack Gottsagen] who plays Zak, Shia LaBeouf, and we were like together every day, all day. We had all of our meals together. We were like a little family.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tJohnson said she really connected with her co-star Gottsagen, and that \u201cZack brought this energy that was so pure.\u201d She continued, \u201cHe just is such a performer and such a talented actor. I just feel like [working with him] was a total gift to my life. I don\u2019t know how to explain what that experience was, but I think it translates when people see the movie because you can feel the love behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDakota Johnson attends Women In Cinema event during Red Sea International Film Festival 2025.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDaniele Venturelli\/Getty Images for The Red Sea International Film Festival<\/p>\n

\n\tJohnson also spoke about the two films she made with Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, A Bigger Splash (2015) and Suspiria (2018). Johnson said working with Guadagnino was \u201cthe most deeply seen I\u2019ve felt by a director\u201d and that she would work with him \u201cforever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking directly to her experience of working on A Bigger Splash as a 24-year-old actress, Johnson said she got the call about being cast in the film while being on a tour bus with an unnamed rock band, and after flying to Italy, she confessed that she felt she couldn\u2019t go through with it. \u201cI was in the back of a bus in like a field somewhere and I got a call that Luca wanted me to be in this movie, and I needed to get on a plane right away, and I was like I don\u2019t even know where I am. I was just like young and crazy. And then, I went and I met him, and I felt like, \u2018OK, I can do this.\u2019 So I went to New York and like packed up my stuff and went to [Italy]. And I got there and I was, \u2018I cannot do this. I\u2019m not prepared.’\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tJohnson said that on A Bigger Splash, she was daunted by the prospect of being surrounded by actors of the calibre of Tilda Swinton and Ralph Fiennes, but it was Swinton herself who calmed her down. \u201cTilda actually sat down with me and was like, \u2018You\u2019re here because you\u2019re meant to be here, and you can do this.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe added that working on Guadagnino\u2019s Suspiria was a \u201ctough one.\u201d She explained, \u201cI mean it took so much prep time to learn the choreography and I did pretty much all of my own dancing. There were like a few things that I couldn\u2019t do because I\u2019m not a professional dancer, but I did mostly all of it, and that took a lot of dedication.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn working with Maggie Gyllenhaal on The Lost Daughter (2021), Johnson described her as a \u201cforce\u201d and that \u201cshe\u2019s so intelligent and her emotional intelligence is like just coming through her pheromones.\u201d The actress described the director as inspiring and said that Gyllenhaal made her \u201cexplore so many different corners of myself.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMaggie\u2019s way of directing was very quiet, she would just come and kind of whisper things [to me], and I was like, \u2018I\u2019m not sure I understand what you\u2019re saying, but I\u2019ll try.\u2019 (Laughs),\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tFrom left: Jessica Alba, Jomana R. Alrashid, Dakota Johnson and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan during the Opening Ceremony at the Red Sea International Film Festival 2025<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTim P. Whitby\/Getty Images for The Red Sea International Film Festival<\/p>\n

\n\tThe talk ended with Johnson\u2019s impressions of the nascent Saudi film scene and RSIFF\u2019s drive to push female filmmakers from the Middle East, Africa and Asia. \u201cI\u2019m extremely inspired by my experience so far\u2026 I\u2019ve met some of the most incredible women. I mean, [Jomana R. Alrashid, chairwoman of the Red Sea Film Foundation], what a woman! I\u2019m kind of at a loss for words. But I guess the thing that I feel about this festival is, I just feel inspired.\u201d Johnson added, \u201cYou know, in the States, it feels really, grim, and even in the less than 24 hours that I\u2019ve been here, I have a renewed faith in cinema.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Red Sea Film Festival<\/a> continues through to Dec. 13. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dakota Johnson revealed she has a \u201clove-hate relationship\u201d with aspects of her job as an actress, and now…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[268],"tags":[434,11881,18,117,19,1452,17,118022,117539,117025,15112],"class_list":{"0":"post-219991","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-dakota-johnson","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-international","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-red-sea-film-festival","16":"tag-red-sea-film-festival-2025","17":"tag-red-sea-international-film-festival","18":"tag-saudi-arabia"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115677896184337927","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}