Dakota Johnson revealed during a recent interview on Hits Radio while promoting the U.K. release of “Splitsville” that she once failed an audition simply for shaking the hands of the creative team when she entered the room. The actor was just trying to be polite ahead of reading her lines. She was later told that she was “pompous” and “cocky.”
“I had an audition once, and it was a callback, and I went into the room, and I shook everyone’s hand and introduced myself. Then I did the scene, and I left,” Johnson said. “The feedback I got was that because I had gone and introduced myself and shook everyone’s hand is that I was pompous. That I was schmoozing, and I was full of myself, and I was like: ‘What?’ I didn’t get the job because they said that I was being cocky, but I just had manners… It was pretty crazy.”
Johnson’s dark comedy “Splitsville” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year before opening in the U.S. in late August from Neon. Not only does Johnson star in the film but she also produced it through TeaTime Pictures, the production banner she co-founded with Ro Donnelly.
“So much of why I wanted to start a production company and make my own movies is because I want more from this industry,” Johnson told Variety in Cannes last year. “I want more from my experience as an artist. I felt so thirsty for more conversation and more creativity and more collaboration. I found myself as an actor, a few times, showing up to the premiere of a movie to see it the first time and saying, ‘Woah. That is not what I thought we were making.’ That is such a weird thing to do.”
“Splitsville,” directed by “The Climb” helmer Michael Angelo Covino, centers on two couples whose friendships are upended when the husband of a divorcing couple sleeps with the wife of an open marriage couple. Adria Arjona co-stars alongside director Covino and co-writer Kyle Marvin.
“The way that we build our sets is really vibe based. Energy based,” Johnson also noted. “It’s very much a no asshole policy. The other thing is that we really ensure that every person on the crew knows what we are making, so everybody feels a part of it. Working in movies… the hours are long and it’s grueling. It’s not comfortable. It’s not nice. When you feel like you’re genuinely invested in something, people are happier and they work better.”
Watch Johnson’s Hits Radio interview in the video below. “Splitsville” is now playing in U.K. theaters and is available to stream in the U.S. on Hulu.