Dakota Johnson reveals ‘fighting’ for ‘unique stuff’ in BLEAK industry

Dakota Johnson seems to have had enough of this industry’s “safe thing” standards and called out “people” for being “afraid”.

In a recent interview with L'Officiel, Dakota Johnson gave her thoughts on the industry in advance of the premiere of her superhero tentpole, Madame Web.

The actor talked about how difficult it was to sell her independent movie Daddio, which starred her and Oscar winner Sean Penn in the major roles, when she brought it to a film festival the previous year.

“We made a movie called Daddio that was sold at Telluride to Sony Classics, which was amazing, but it took a lot of fighting to get that made,” Johnson said.

“People are just so afraid, and I’m like, why? What’s going to happen if you do something brave? It just feels like nobody knows what to do and everyone’s afraid. That’s what it feels like. Everyone who makes decisions is afraid. They want to do the safe thing, and the safe thing is really boring.”

Johnson talked about “discovering that it’s really fucking bleak in this industry. It is majorly disheartening.”

“The people who run streaming platforms don’t trust creative people or artists to know what’s going to work, and that is just going to make us implode,” she continued.

“It’s really heartbreaking. It’s just fucking so hard. It’s so hard to get anything made. All of the stuff I’m interested in making is really different, and it’s unique and it’s very forward in whatever it is.”

She previously told Games Radar that she "never thought" she'd be in the "superhero hero world" as the lead of Madame Web.

“When the script came along, I loved the idea of a superhero being a young woman whose mind was extremely powerful, and I liked the dynamic between her and these three young women; how they genuinely protect and support and care for each other,” Johnson said about her new oppurtunity in the superhero genre.