Dakota Johnson recalls 'battle' to film 'Fifty Shades of Grey': 'Mayhem all the time'
Dakota Johnson is giving fans the "naked" truth as she looks back on her experience making the "Fifty Shades of Grey" trilogy.
During an interview with Vanity Fair published Tuesday, Johnson reflected on what it was like filming the steamy romance dramas, which are based on the book series by E.L. James.
"I’m a sexual person, and when I’m interested in something, I want to know so much about it," Johnson recalled of her interest in the films. "That’s why I did those big naked movies."
But the 32-year-old actress said she "signed up to do a very different version of the film we ended up making," something she chalks up to a number of internal factors, including James’ degree of creative control during production.
"She had a lot of creative control, all day, every day, and she just demanded that certain things happen," Johnson said. "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."
Centering the relationship between literature student Anastasia Steele (Johnson) and billionaire Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan), who has a penchant for BDSM, 2015's "Fifty Shades of Grey" was directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson and grossed $569.7 million at the global box office. The film was followed up with two sequels: 2017's "Fifty Shades Darker" and 2018's "Fifty Shades Freed," both directed by James Foley.
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Johnson said the making of "Fifty Shades of Grey" became "something crazy" after actor Charlie Hunnam pulled out of playing Christian Grey – Dornan would later fill the role – and James scrapped the film’s original script.
"There were a lot of different disagreements," Johnson said. "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."
"We’d do the takes of the movie that (James) wanted to make, and then we would do the takes of the movie that we wanted to make," Johnson added. "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."
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Even though it was a "weird" experience, the Golden Globe-winning actress said she doesn’t have any regrets.
"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,'" Johnson said. "There are things that I still cannot say because I don’t want to hurt anyone’s career and I don’t want to damage anybody’s reputation, but both Jamie and I were treated really well. (James) is a very nice woman, and she was always kind to me and I am grateful she wanted me to be in those movies."
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dakota Johnson reflects on 'Fifty Shades' films, clash with E.L. James
