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Dakota Johnson covers the recent issue of L’Officiel, all to promote Madame Web. Dakota’s promotion has been a bit chaotic, but hey, she’s definitely doing more promotion than I thought she would. Dakota’s got side projects happening at the same time and she definitely sounds more engaged with that stuff, like her production company and her work with a vibrator company. Dakota chatted about all of that plus her recent claim that she sleeps 14 hours a day. Some highlights from this interview:

Why she was open to a superhero movie: “I’m always open to anything. I don’t discriminate against movie genres when it comes to how I choose things or what I do. I heard that this was going to be made, and it was interesting to me that the main character’s superpower is her mind, and that she is a woman. That is something that I can really get behind. That’s very real to me, and it’s really powerful and sexy… I think that the minds of women are incredibly powerful, so I think that it’s a more relatable superhero. It is more of a psychological thriller. This film is a really fabulous departure for Marvel, because sometimes it’s amazing to have these other universes and galaxies doing unrealistic things in an unrealistic place. That can be escapism and really entertaining.”

What she’s working on with her production company TeaTime: “We are starting to see a throughline. We don’t have a mandate or anything. I guess the constant, for me, is that all of our movies and shows have really powerful females at the center. They’re very intricate. They’re very detailed. They’re very nuanced.

The bleakness of the industry: “I am discovering that it’s really f–king 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. It’s really heartbreaking. It’s just f–king 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. 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. 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.

What she did during the SAG strike: “Had an existential crisis. I mean, I didn’t shoot anything, but I was working on production stuff and TeaTime stuff. I was kind of all over the place. I was in Japan. I was in LA. I was in Europe.

Whether she really sleeps 14 hours: “I said I could easily sleep 14 hours. I didn’t say that I sleep 14 hours every night. I have a job. There’s no way that I could do my job and do that. So clearly something is amiss with that. I do love sleeping, but I didn’t say that. I think I’m beginning to understand that sarcasm doesn’t translate to journalists these days, or embellishment. I just have to be more literal, I guess.

The rollback on women’s rights and reproductive rights: “I mean, we have gone completely backwards in terms of reproductive rights, women’s equality, and women’s rights. It is so mind-bending. I think it’s hard to articulate because when Roe v. Wade was overturned, I think everyone thought, okay, well, this is insane, and it’ll be rectified quickly. Of course, we’re not going to be in this position. Of course this is not going to be the reality. But then weeks pass and months pass, and more and more women are denied the healthcare that they need and they deserve. Women deserve the choices that are so basic to being a human being on this planet. I think it’s hard to articulate what I feel and think right now because I am blown away. I’m blown away, and I find it absolutely heartbreaking and terrifying.

[From L’Officiel]

Re: sleep… she told the Wall Street Journal that she “needs” 10 hours of sleep or she can’t function properly but that she “could” sleep as much as 14 hours a night. If you ask me, ten hours of sleep mandatory every night is still kind of bonkers, but it’s less bonkers than 14 hours. Re: Hollywood decision-makers and “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.” Dakota isn’t the first person to talk about it – Issa Rae recently made very similar remarks – and I think it’s notable that these comments are being echoed by a lot of women in the industry but not the men. So many women have started their own production companies and they’re taking the lead on producing their own projects, and studios are still fearful and frozen. The accountants have taken over in such a big way, and the biggest casualties are female-led projects.

Cover courtesy of L’Officiel IG, additional photos courtesy of Backgrid.

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