Of course, our fave nepotism gal also touched on the elephant in the room: her starring role in the critically panned Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy.
During the audition, she was asked to read a monologue from the 1966 Swedish mystery-drama Persona, directed by Ingmar Bergman (the same filmmaker behind the original Scenes from a Marriage). Dakota recalled that while she was cast in the role, she wasn't sure if she should take it.
"I couldn’t talk about it to anybody. Nobody in my family knew," she said. That's where Emily Blunt came in. "I was cast [and] I remember I spoke to Emily Blunt, and I was like, 'Should I do this trilogy? Because I want to have a really special career, and I want to make a certain kind of film. And I know that this is going to change things.'"
"She was like, 'Fucking do it if it feels right. Just do it. Always do what you want to do.'"
And despite the reviews and lasting infamy surrounding the franchise, Dakota doesn't regret a thing. "I feel like I haven’t been pigeonholed into anything [because of the role]. I guess I could have gone in a certain direction, but that’s just not what I was interested in."
Dakota's candid reflections on the movie come roughly a week after her costar and onscreen love (read: lust) interest, Jamie Dornan, offered his own thoughts about the franchise to British GQ.
Prior to accepting the role, Jamie said he was aware that the film would likely receive a ton of backlash. "There has to be an acceptance with acting, taking jobs, that you don’t ultimately have control over some things," he explained. "But you do know what you are getting into, and I did spend a lot of time weighing up whether to take the Fifty Shades role."
Notwithstanding critics' consensus that he made a "devastating career choice," he has no regrets about his decision. "Look, put it this way: It’s done no harm to my career to be part of a movie franchise that has made more than $1 billion. Every working actor would say the same thing. It’s provided — a lot."
Regardless, he said it does sting that people may not have as much faith in his acting ability. "Whatever comes next, the line in the press is always, 'It’s the best thing he’s done since Fifty Shades.' As if I am still needing to prove myself."
Welp, we can hate on Fifty Shades as much as we want, but it looks like Dakota and Jamie — who are already generating Oscar buzz for their movies — are doing pretty well for themselves!
