Dakota Johnson gets candid on 'shady' Hollywood, the toll of acting

Dakota Johnson is offering an unusually candid look at her life.

Johnson, as an actress and producer during an In Conversation With session at the Red Sea International Film Festival, admitted she has a “love-hate relationship” with parts of the job.

Speaking directly to the audience, she described how the “shady” side of the entertainment industry and the personal toll of performance often weigh on her. Acting, she said, regularly demands that she “fight with myself to get to an emotional place.”

Johnson noted that producing has exposed her to more of Hollywood’s complexities than she ever saw on set. “Financiers are really shady sometimes. It is heartbreaking,” she said.

“As a producer, it can be very heartbreaking. As an actress, it can be heartbreaking.” Even so, she explained that both roles remain “incredibly fulfilling.”

Comparing the two crafts, she added, “There’s something about acting where I feel I’m in a bubble, and [with] producing you see behind the curtain, and it’s really ugly.” Despite that, she admitted she “doesn’t like that, but also loves it at the same time.”

Her move into producing came from years of watching her parents collaborate closely with filmmakers.

“I always wanted to be a larger part of the project,” she said, adding that she wanted to craft work that reflected “parts of myself and my artistry that I think other people weren’t seeing.”

Through TeaTime Pictures, which she runs with Ro Donnelly, Johnson is championing “mostly female-driven, human experience projects.”

The company is also backing her feature-directing debut, A Tree Is Blue.

Looking back, she highlighted The Peanut Butter Falcon as one of her most meaningful experiences, recalling the close-knit environment on set and her deep connection with co-star Zack Gottsagen, whose “energy… was so pure.”