Despite her decade-long tenure as a leading lady, Dakota Johnson has had to do a lot of the heavy onscreen lifting without any help.
The Materialists star joked she’s “always psyched up” for sex scenes as she recently opened up about working with an intimacy coordinator the first time in her career on a movie she recently filmed.
“And she was really great,” raved Johnson on the Good Hang podcast. “It was so cool because I’m so used to—you know, it’s a sex scene. It’s not sexy. It doesn’t feel good.”
In addition to some of the more absurd aspects of filming a sex scene, like “slamming myself into a headboard,” Johnson detailed for host Amy Poehler what goes into preparing to film an intimate sequence.
“First, I think it depends on, who is the character, and who is the character supposed to be to the audience,” she explained. “Is she a super idolized hot girl? Is she a housewife? Is she lonely? Is she scared? Is she conservative?”
L-R: Dakota Johnson and Pedro Pascal in ‘Materialists’
A24
Johnson continued, “So, that’s obviously character work, but then certain prep would go into it. I want to feel good in my body if I’m showing my body. My mom raised me to be really, really proud of my body and love my body. So, I’ve always felt so grateful for that, especially in my work because I can use it and it feels real.”
After making her breakout role in 2015’s Fifty Shades of Grey adaptation, Johnson noted there were “no intimacy coordinators then.” She has since come to appreciate the importance of a good sex scene as the romantic lead of films like How to Be Single (2016), Cha Cha Real Smooth (2022), Am I OK? (2022), Persuasion (2022) and Splitsville, which debuted last month at Cannes.
“So, I guess in my work, it’s something that I feel brave with and that I feel, when it’s used the right way in a story, it’s important,” said Johnson, whose latest film Materialists is now in theaters.
