DAKOTA JOHNSON
From Fifty Shades of Grey to The High Note
Dakota Johnson may come from Hollywood royalty: she is Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson’s daughter, Antonio Banderas’ former stepdaughter, and Tippi Hedren’s granddaughter, but she has proven that she deserves to join their ranks. She started acting steadily in 2010, but 2015 proved to be her big breakout year when she was cast opposite Jamie Dornan as Anastasia Steele in the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. While the series, based on the erotic book series by E.L.James, has its detractors, the role catapulted Johnson to stardom. Whether or not you like the films, it is undeniable that she has a fabulous screen presence.
After the first Fifty Shades movie, Johnson showed her comedic chops as Alice in the ensemble romantic comedy How to Be Single. She also revealed her scream queen prowess in Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria, a remake of the Dario Argento classic. Her star power isn’t slowing down anytime soon. She has two new movies available now. First is The Peanut Butter Falcon. It’s about a young man with Downs Syndrome (Zack Gottsagen) who runs away from assisted living and befriends a fisherman (Shia LaBeouf). Johnson stars as the social worker who finds them and becomes a love interest for LaBeouf. The Peanut Butter Falcon had a limited theatrical release in 2019 and became the highest-grossing indie of the year. The Peanut Butter Falcon is now streaming on Epix and available to rent on iTunes.
She also has a brand new movie, The High Note, coming out on VOD this Friday, May 29. Johnson stars in The High Note as Maggie, the overworked assistant, with dreams of becoming a producer, to music superstar Grace Davis (Tracee Ellis Ross). Grace and Maggie team up when Grace’s manager offers them an opportunity. The High Note was directed by Nisha Ganatra and written by Flora Greeson. In addition to Johnson and Ross, it stars Kelvin Harrison Jr., Zoë Chao, Bill Pullman, Eddie Izzard and Ice Cube.
