Dakota Johnson Talks Dark Side Of Producing: “You See Behind The Curtain & It’s Ugly”

Hello, welcome. My name is Diana Loderhose. I'm the International Features Editor here at Deadline. I'm in our Red Sea Studio here in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and I'm joined with the wonderful Dakota Johnson. Hi. Hi. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me. So you just got here. Initial impressions. First time? It's my first time at this festival. I landed yesterday. I went straight into hair and makeup and straight to the opening ceremony, so it was kind of nuts, but it's been incredibly inspiring to be here. I'm, my mind is sort of blown. Are you gonna see movies while you're out here? Hopefully tomorrow. I have some space tomorrow, so I really would like to see Haifa Al Mansour's new film. Oh my gosh, me too. I'm a big fan of hers. Yeah, me too. I have got to ask you about, I'm so excited about this, you are about to do your directorial debut, I believe. At some point in the near future, that will happen. I'm so excited about this. So what can you tell us about it, and you know, does it have a schedule? I mean, there's, I've seen some announcements of cast. It looks kind of amazing with Charlie XCX and all. What can you tell us? Well, there's a lot of, I can't say much, really, just because I am not prepared to have that information in the world, but it's, it's centered around and written by Vanessa Burkhart. She's a young autistic woman, and she is a remarkable human, and she wrote this story about what it's like to be an autistic girl who just wants connection and independence, and is trying to figure out who she is in relationship to other people, and yeah, I, I don't know. I don't, I don't feel comfortable talking about it as, like, directorial debut, because I just don't feel that way about myself. Right. It just feels like, as though, if you were like, ooh, I really want to draw a pig, I'm gonna draw a pig today, and then you never draw a pig again. That's how I feel about it. Okay. Have you always, is it something, though, that you have always had in the back of your mind? Like, have you aspired to kind of work behind the camera? You've worked, obviously, in front of it for so long, and come from, you know, a world where you've been exposed to this. Yeah. I'm inspired by all aspects of filmmaking, so I, it really just depends on the project, and depends on the people I've been producing now for six years, and that's so rewarding, and educational, and liberating in a lot of ways. So it's, it's kind of something that just happened, where I feel like I have to make this movie, and, you know, we'll see, see what happens. How, if you don't mind me asking a little bit more just about this, in terms of, you know, there is, this question will come up when there's any female filmmaker, but there's obviously, there aren't enough female filmmakers out there, so whenever I hear of a new talent, a new female kind of wanting to get behind the lens, it's quite exciting. How has the process of you kind of saying to kind of financiers, and putting a cast together, and working on a script, you know, how has that process been, in terms of, I don't want to say ease, but in terms of packaging this for you, it being a, you know, you're directing, what's the journey been like, or, sounds like you're still on it, but like, what, what is it? We are on the journey. It's certainly not easy. I think people are, are afraid to take risks, and making an independent film written by, and starring an autistic girl, for me is a no-brainer, but for a lot of people, that's a big risk, and, you know, I just, I don't agree, I don't understand, but we're, we're working our way through, and we're gonna make our movie, and Vanessa will make her movie, and, but that landscape right now is really interesting. I think people are, people are a bit more inhibited when it comes to what they want to decide to invest in, and what they want to put forth in the world, in terms of cinema and television, so, I mean, you know, it's not my, this film is a battle that I'm fighting, and I will fight until we get it out to the world. You're absolutely right. I mean, the landscape is kind of tougher than ever, on the indie side, and the studio side, there's been a lot of consolidation. Today, it was just announced, the Netflix Warner Brothers deal. I wonder, having produced, and, you know, kind of worked in different aspects of this business, what are your, and currently putting together an indie project that you're gonna direct, I'd love to hear your thoughts on, you know, are you, are you kind of frightened for this business, or it feels very, you know, while there are, as you rightly say, lots of decision-makers not taking risks, on the one hand, there, you know, I was just mentioning your film The Materialist earlier, you know, that is a wonderful example of a fantastic independent film that might not, you know, looks on the surface to be one thing, but it's actually about something else. So, where do you sit, in terms of feeling, like, feeling of the health of this business, and people taking risks? What are your thoughts on this consolidation? It's kind of a big question, but, it is, well, there's, like, 20 questions in there, but I don't fear the demise of the entertainment business, or the film industry. It will never, people will always fight to, to be creative, and to tell stories. I just know that to be true. The, the way in which that operates will shift and change throughout time, as it always has. Hollywood has been in, like, dire situations since it started. So, right now, it's just another version of a rebirth, and I, I see that, especially being here, at this incredible festival. It is the collaboration, the excitement, the ambition behind filmmaking, the support of female filmmakers here, the stories that are being told here, the collaboration throughout nations and countries. It's, like, so beautiful and inspiring, and something that I'm, I'm witnessing in real time. You said you've been here for every festival, so you've seen the evolution of this festival, and it's beautiful, and it's magnificent, and the fact that they've opened more movie theaters here in the last two years than, like, we have left in the United States, I think, right? It's, like, sounds about right. Yeah, well, that statistic is not an actual one. It's, it was, what, like, six, they've opened 600. What was it today, Ro? In five years, in three years, it'll be, like, 2,500 theaters or something. Something crazy. Which is, like, what are we doing? So, to be here, and to meet everyone, and, and just the, these inspiring people, and Jomana, who runs this festival, I mean, I'm, I'm just, like, I'm, I'm grateful to be here, and it, you know, looking at our industry in the States, it just is, like, okay, well, we need to rethink how we do this, and the consolidation is whatever. Like, we're gonna figure it out a different way. Does it, being somewhere like this, does it make you, you know, in terms of when you think of next decisions for you in your career, does it, does it kind of make you feel like, do you see a world where you would be collaborating with talent over here, or what, does it kind of make you think, when you are creating something, are you looking at a global audience now, or are you very much just driven by a story you want to tell, or how do you look at it? I am so inspired by, well, I'm, I'm definitely looking at a global audience, but I'm inspired by collaborating with, especially women from different countries, different parts of the world. I, I would love to make films here. I would love to tell young Saudi female stories in, in the States. I, I, one of my favorite movies that I saw was Capernaum a long time ago, in 2018, I think that movie came out, and Idin Labaki, who's on the jury this year, and I met her last night, and I was, like, such a loser, but yeah, I'm, I would love to collaborate. I would love to collaborate with people from all parts of the world. I think that when you have an artistic heart and mind, you want to tell stories and express your, your dreams and your concerns and your experience in a way that can be very collaborative, and does not have to be segregated in some strange way. Dakota, thank you so much for being here with us today. It was great to meet you. Thank you.