Why Dakota Johnson Calls Guest Starring on The Office “the Worst”
Dakota Johnson isn’t tangled up in the phone lines.
Though the Madame Web star felt a “sisterly dynamic” with Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O’Connor and Isabela Merced while filming their new superhero movie, she jokingly noted that being a millennial has “certainly” left her out of their Gen Z group chat.
“I don’t think they include me,” Dakota quipped in an exclusive interview with E! News, airing Feb. 12 at 11 p.m. “I’m older than them, and they make sure that I’m aware of that.”
Sydney, 26, Celeste, 25, and Isabel, 22, confirmed that they do have a text group—affectionately named “The Boo Crew” as a nod to their onscreen characters—in a separate interview. However, trio told E! News that they have nothing but respect for the Fifty Shades of Grey alum, who they saw as a cool older sibling.
“I’ve been a fan of hers since I was a lot younger,” Sydney shared, slyly pointing out that she “might have snuck” into a screening of Dakota’s R-rated film when she was underage. “My parents didn’t let me watch it.”
In fact, the Euphoria actress confessed to being a bit starstruck during her first day of work with Dakota.
“‘Do I say hi? What do I do?'” Sydney remembered asking herself. “I was so excited.”
Describing Dakota as “grounded, honest and calm,” Celeste thought the Daddio actress was the perfect role model on set.
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“It was genuinely so refreshing to have that kind of leadership,” she said. “It made me so much more comfortable.”
Isabela added of Dakota, “She really is like a big sister.”
And though Dakota does have a few more years of experience over her costars, she doesn’t believe they need any pointers on acting. If anything, she joked that she needs advice from Sydney.
“She’s such an amazing actress,” Dakota praised, “and really has such an incredible work ethic.”
Madame Web is out on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14.
To see more of Dakota’s interview, tune into E! News tonight at 11 p.m. For now, check out some of her most candid quotes below.
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Queen of Truth
In perhaps one of her most infamous TV moments, Dakota Johnson called out Ellen DeGeneres for not attending her 30th birthday party.
After the comedian joked on a 2019 episode of her eponymous talk show that she “wasn’t invited,” Dakota dryly retorted, “Actually, no—that’s not the truth, Ellen.”
The actress proceeded to point out that Ellen gave her “a bunch of s–t” the last time she was on the show about not being invited, so Dakota made sure she was included on the guest list this time around.
“I didn’t even know you liked me,” Dakota told Ellen. “I did invite you, but you didn’t come.”
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Viral Fame
When asked about the viral Ellen interview four years later, Dakota simply told L’Officiel, “It will haunt me.”
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Fifty Shades of Candid
Dakota got very candid about her experience filming the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise years after its final movie, revealing that author E.L. James “had a lot of creative control” and “demanded that certain things happen.”
“There were parts of the books that just wouldn’t work in a movie, like the inner monologue, which was at times incredibly cheesy,” she told Vanity Fair in 2022, explaining how the writer often clashed with the studio and the director. “It was like mayhem all the time.”
In fact, Dakota believes no one would’ve signed onto the project if they “had known at the time that’s what it was going to be like.”
As she noted, “It would’ve been like, ‘Oh, this is psychotic.'”
E.L. has not publicly responded to Dakota’s comments.
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Lime Lie
Who knew an innocent comment about limes would go viral? But that was what happened to Dakota after her 2020 house tour with Architectural Digest, during which she pointed to a bowl of limes in her kitchen and raved, “I love limes. I love them so much. They’re great, and I like to present them like this in my house.”
However, Dakota later admitted that it was all “set dressing.”
“I’m actually allergic to limes,” she confessed during a 2021 appearance on The Tonight Show. “So, I lied.”
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Caught in a Web of Memes
When the first trailer of Madame Web dropped in November 2023, the internet became fascinated with Dakota’s monotonous delivery of the line: “He was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died.”
Though the phrase quickly became a meme across the web, it failed to ensnare Dakota’s attention—subsequently leading to another meme-able moment when she later expressed her confusion over its popularity.
“Why did that go viral?” she stoically asked an interviewer who mentioned the meme. “I have no idea what that’s about.”
Dakota added of her viral line, “That seems like a basic storyline to me.”
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Nope on the Nepo Baby Debate
Dakota—who is the daughter of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson—didn’t hold back her thoughts on Hollywood’s nepo baby debate, telling Today in a February 2024 interview, “When that first started, I found it to be incredibly annoying and boring.”
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A Hairy Confession
While speaking to Andrew Garfield about how they often cross paths at Hollywood events, Dakota admitted to taking out her hair extensions giving them to fellow partygoers.
“At those parties, I’d probably get a little drunk and then just take them out,” she shared in a Vanity Fair sit-down, “and put them in men’s jacket pockets because they’re so annoying and I’d just find a place to put them.”
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Sleep On It
Above all else, Dakota (understandably) puts sleep as “my number one priority in life.”
“I’m not functional if I get less than 10,” she told WSJ. Magazine in December 2023. “I can easily go 14 hours.”
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Mind the Gap
“How much stuff can Dakota Johnson fit in her gap teeth?” Well, a lot—as she candidly demonstrated in a 2017 video of the same name.
Among the objects included a toothpick, a credit card and $1100 in cash.
“That’s my only skill,” she quipped in the clip, adding, “Dad, are you watching this?”
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