Dakota Johnson very cash on the set of 50 shades of Grey: “If I had known…”

Behind-the-scenes films are often much less glamorous than the final product on the big screen. If the film Fifty Shades of Gray seduced you with its aesthetics and its plot, the shooting was not so easy to achieve. It’s the main actress who says it. Dakota Johnson, who became known to the world by playing the role of Anastasia Steele, confided in her experience during the first part of 50 shades of Gray.

For magazine Vanity Fair, the actress spoke about this landmark shoot. She discovered some surprises. “It was chaos all the time, there were a lot of disagreements. I had signed on to do a very different version of the movie that we ended up doing” says the actress. Indeed, many changes were made at the last minute. Starting with the one who embodies the famous Christian Grey. Initially it was Charlie Hunnam who had been chosen for the main role. But he abandoned the project because of a schedule problem. A chance for Jamie Dornan who was able to recover the role.

The difficulty of adapting 50 Shades of Gray to the cinema

The filming of 50 shades of gray did not just experience unforeseen events. We also had to deal with the author of the book that inspired the film. “EL James [l’auteure du roman, ndlr ] had a lot of creative control over the project, all day, every day, and she just demanded certain things be done,” recalls Dakota Johnson. Difficult to reconcile the director Sam Taylor-Johnson and the creator of the original work.

“Certain passages of the book did not work at all on screen, such as the interior monologue” of her character, says Dakota Johnson. The actress remembers that this passage “could be incredibly silly when heard out loud. So it was an ongoing battle.”

Dakota Johnson also admitted that this is the first time that she has been able to speak freely about this shoot. “I’ve never been able to talk about it honestly, because you want to promote the movie properly… If I had known what I was getting into, I would have said, ‘This is crazy,’ admits Dakota Johnson. The unknown succeeded for her, since if she had known the conditions beforehand, she might have missed this worldwide success that the film met with.