New Photoshoot + Interview of Dakota in Vanity Fair Italy [January 2019]

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Dakota Johnson: "I have many different women inside me"

She defines herself in the balance between yesterday and today, "as if I had all ages at the same time". And if in the past (the one experienced by grandmother and mother actresses) regrets privacy, the present appreciates above all one thing: take more risks and more responsibility.

Here is an excerpt from the cover interview that Vanity Fair dedicates to Dakota Johnson on the newsstand issue from December 27, 2018

Melanie Griffith made a brief visit to the set of this photo shoot with a smile: "I'm Dakota's mother". Sooner or later it happens, not at all, but it happens. The son of art becomes so famous that it is fathers and mothers who define themselves as "parents of". It is the moment, usually, where the accusations of nepotism disappear because it means that, at that point, the son or daughter of art has proved to be someone beyond the surname they carry.

It happened to Michael Douglas, Oscar winner as producer of the film Someone flew over the cuckoo's nest. That day he stopped being the son of Kirk Douglas, a twenty-year-old film star, and Kirk became Michael's dad. Like Douglas, Dakota Johnson is part of the Hollywood aristocracy, whose quarters of nobility are not measured in noble titles but in headlines. Her grandmother is Tippi Hedren, protagonist of the Birds of Alfred Hitchcock, the mother is Melanie Griffith, the father is Don Johnson, the stepfather Antonio Banderas.

Dakota extends her long legs on a strange round sofa that occupies the living room of the villa in the hills above Los Angeles, where we meet. She looks distracted, sibylline or maybe a little annoyed, it is the pinkest flamingo of that savannah that they call Hollywood. She repeats every question I ask her, before answering. Maybe she wants to weigh the words, maybe she wants to take time and avoid other questions, which she considers uncomfortable. From the interview, there are excluded a priori references to films taken from the Fifty Shades that made her popular (the three titles in the series have grossed one billion dollars in the world!) And Chris Martin, frontman of Coldplay, ex husband of Gwyneth Paltrow, today, boyfriend of Dakota and, who knows, future husband.

Protagonist of Suspiria of Luca Guadagnino, out on January 1, testimonial of the three fragrances Gucci Bloom, at 29 years old Dakota, behind the seemingly vague air, seems to have very clear ideas about the future. Her projects alone began to occur. One of these (but has yet to start shooting) is Queens of the Stoned Age, which tells the true story, taken from a report by GQ America, the Green Angels, a group of marijuana dealers governed by a beautiful model and at the service of stars of music and entertainment.

She is very popular among peers but if she were to explain what are the traits that distinguish her generation, what would she say?

Dakota: I do not feel like belonging to my generation, it's like I have all ages at the same time. I am old and young, younger and older, I oscillate between these two things continuously.

I insist. Music often serves to define a generation. What do you listen to?

Dakota: I'm a musical nerd. I listen to everything. Lately, Grace Slick, this morning Philip Glass. Among the new things I like James Blake and the last of the Nails. You see, I'm always between old and new. All a bit 'fluid, without sharp divisions, as I said.

When did you start, with a small role in The Social Network, where did you live and what did you expect from this job?

Dakota: I was living with my boyfriend at the time and I wanted economic independence. Earn money making cinema.

Objective widely achieved. And then, what do you want from the future?

Dakota: A very high number of very beautiful films, without having to compromise.

What compromises?

Dakota: Often in order to make quality independent films it is necessary to shoot commercial films.

Which, perhaps, do not interest you?

Dakota: I didn't say that. I love all the films I've done. But I discovered that if you have a certain popularity, you can take more time between one project and another.

What was the best aspect of being active at the time of your grandmother?

Dakota: The studios invested on you, they paid you piano and dance lessons, they followed you and supported you. They thought their strategy, for better or for worse. But the biggest advantage is that there was no social media and the actors could remain mysterious creatures and protect their privacy, not like now, I'm on social media in a very passive way. I read everything, I follow everything, but I never post anything. I use them to inform me, but I'm not part of it because I don't want to publicize my life.

There will also be some advantages, now, compared to your grandmother's time, or even just your mother.

Dakota: Yes, there are. Today, actresses can have more control over their careers. We can produce, as I am doing. Or write. Or become a director. Take more risks and more responsibility. All things were very difficult in the past.

Do you think that the #MeToo has changed, is it changing something?

Dakota: Some men will think twice about behaving badly. But #MeToo is not just about harassment, it's not just about Hollywood. Women from all walks of life are sharing a new feeling, don't let themselves be discouraged at the first difficulty. All of us, I think, feel a little stronger.

Suspiria is the remake of a famous horror but it is also a bit of a metaphor for the power of femininity. How did you feel about shooting this movie?

Dakota: Very well. Above all because with Luca Guadagnino I always work well (the director has already directed Dakota in A Bigger Splash, ed), ours is a friendship, an artistic collaboration, a special partnership. I learned more things in the two films with Luca than in many others.

Has it ever happened to you that you don't you like a character who you have to interpret and try to make it fun?

Dakota: It's not a problem to me. I have many different women inside me and, depending on the film, I go looking for them. Creativity is a strange process, it comes in waves, we don't know what can destroy it or inspire it, every time it's different.

And, in real life, in which moments are more at ease? I guess not in the interviews.

Dakota: Imagine well (she laughs). I prefer to watch a movie, read a book, be with friends.

So I guess you does not like it even on a red carpet with everyone's eyes on you.

Dakota: Would you like that?

I don't think so, but I'm not an actress.

Dakota: Here is the point. Do you think an actress has no feelings? All on, the lights shot, people screaming, the idea that the next day they will cut you off because they didn't like your hairstyle or your dress: how can you not be uncomfortable? It is fearful yet beautiful, because it is a very lucky situation. But I always feel a bit split, even there.

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