Dakota Johnson Talks First Time Using an Intimacy Coordinator and Reflects on Chaotic ‘Fifty Shades’ Experience

Dakota Johnson has been acting for over 15 years, but only recently did she work with an intimacy coordinator for the first time. She talked about the experience on Amy Poehler’s podcast Good Hang.

Even though she became widely known for starring in the Fifty Shades of Grey movies, which had a lot of sex scenes, she said there weren’t any intimacy coordinators on those sets.

On Good Hang, Dakota said working with an intimacy coordinator was a totally new and helpful experience.

When Amy Poehler asked Dakota Johnson how she gets ready for sex scenes, Dakota joked at first, saying, “Amy, I don’t have to. I’m, like, always psyched up for sex.” But then she got more serious and explained what filming those scenes is really like.

She said sex scenes are not fun or sexy at all. “It’s a sex scene,” she said. “It’s not, like, sexy. It doesn’t feel good.”

Dakota explained that actors have to do everything except actual sex. That includes making noises and moving like they’re having sex. She also talked about how strange it can feel when she has to act out the scene alone. Sometimes the camera is only on her, so she has to pretend by herself. “I’m just, like, gyrating on my own … or, like, slamming myself into a headboard,” she said.

She went on to talk about how she approaches sex scenes in general. She said it depends a lot on the character she’s playing. “First, I think it depends on, who is the character, and who is the character supposed to be to the audience,” she explained.

“Is she a super idolized hot girl? Is she a housewife? Is she lonely? Is she scared? Is she conservative? So, that’s obviously character work, but then certain prep would go into it.”

She also said feeling good in her body is important when doing scenes that show it. “I want to feel good in my body if I’m showing my body. My mom raised me to be really, really proud of my body and love my body. So, I’ve always felt so grateful for that, especially in my work because I can use it and it feels real.”

Johnson’s conversation with Poehler also touched on her experience making the Fifty Shades movies, and she noted that it was “a wild journey.” “I was so young. … I think I turned 24 while we were shooting,” she said. “And I was so, like, brave. I just feel proud of myself for being brave. … I don’t know, it just felt wild, and also like, there were no intimacy coordinators then or anything like that.”

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