Dakota Johnson says Fifty Shades of Grey was “always a battle”

Dakota Johnson has opened up about her experiences on the set of Fifty Shades of Grey, describing filming as “always a battle”.

Johnson, who starred as Anastasia Steele in the movie trilogy, claimed that the film ended up being a “very different version” to the one that she had signed up for, before talking about the creative control that EL James, the author of the original best-selling books, had.

“She had a lot of creative control, all day, every day, and she just demanded that certain things happen,” she told Vanity Fair.
“There were parts of the books that just wouldn’t work in a movie, like the inner monologue, which was at times incredibly cheesy. It wouldn’t work to say out loud. It was always a battle.”

Johnson, who recently signed up to star in Sony’s Madame Web, revealed that at the time she felt that she was too young to speak up.

“I was young. I was 23. So it was scary. It just became something crazy,” she reflected. “There were a lot of different disagreements. I haven’t been able to talk about this truthfully ever, because you want to promote a movie the right way, and I’m proud of what we made ultimately and everything turns out the way it’s supposed to, but it was tricky.

“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.”

When asked if she regretted making the movies, Johnson rejected the notion.

But she explained that if she knew what the process would have entailed, she likely wouldn’t have signed on in the first place.

“I don’t think it’s a matter of regret,” she said. “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.”

She added that EL James was “a very nice woman, and she was always kind to me and I am grateful she wanted me to be in those movies”.