Wake up babe, new Dakota Johnson interview just dropped
Book clubs, transcendental mediation, Madame Web and Taylor Swift...she covers it all
When the universe/God/Bustle gives me a gift, who am I to push it away? Yes, I just put out a newsletter (about the Oscars) yesterday, but now I’ve read and digested the new Dakota Johnson interview on Bustle and, frankly, I have thoughts. I went through my usual process of deciding I need to write a newsletter about any given topic: I can’t stop thinking about the thing, I tell Hollis about the thing, I consider posting an Instagram story about the thing, then realize I have way too much to say and remember that I started a newsletter for precisely this purpose. What I’m saying is this: there’s a long, wide-ranging Dakota interview on Bustle, and mine is not to reason why1. Mine is but to drop everything to dissect this interview.
You might be thinking, why a Bustle interview now, weeks after the Madame Web publicity flurry? Well, Dakota is promoting her new book club. It’s called Teatime Book Club, because her production company is called Teatime Pictures. This is maybe the best piece I’ve read on Dakota, I think because it’s an interview and not a profile. I love a celebrity profile, the weirder the better (who can forget Miranda July’s profile of Rihanna, which came out in 2015 but is still an illegal squatter in the abandoned building that is my brain), but sometimes they can provide a little too much context and not enough judgment. But an interview really gives someone like Dakota a chance to sparkle; she thrives when she’s allowed to just talk, and the interviewer does a great job of setting up plenty of topics for her. Here are some of my favorite bits of the interview.
Dakota loves to read…but not like those other celebrities.
“There are a lot of people who do things like I do and they have book clubs, and I was always like, Oh, the way that I read books, it’s so different,” she says. “I want to fall down the rabbit hole every time I read… to invest in the book, invest in the language, invest in the references. Like, Oh, what is that piece of art she’s talking about? Who’s that musician?”
What do you think this means? Which celebrity book club is she talking about? Reese is the most obvious one. Do you think Dakota and Reese read in drastically different ways? I actually think this might be a fair assumption. That being said, I would love it if any celebrity chose one of my books for a book club. Perhaps one that is…slightly silly (this will come up again soon).
Teatime Book Club’s first pick is Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino. This is a wonderful pick that’s interesting. My little pet peeve is when you see the same book get picked and promoted by everyone with influence…not because I don’t think a book deserves it, or because I’m immune to hype. But I always want to know about the weirder stuff! If you’re in a position to promote something, why not pick something a little different? I haven’t read Beautyland yet, but I have read and loved Bertino’s 2 A.M. at the Cat’s Pajamas, which Lauren gave me a signed, personalized copy of.
“Our book club is literary fiction. It’s not beach reads. It’s not silly. It’s not all female authors, but it is female-forward, and it’s a lot of first-time novelists.”
Brb, pivoting to literary fiction…brb, changing my name and debuting as a first-time literary novelist…brb, pretending I’m not fundamentally a little silly2…
Dakota relates to the (possible) alien in the book: “I don’t know if I’m from anywhere or I belong anywhere.”
Dakota talks a little bit of trash about Madame Web. You know I’m a sucker for celebrities who can’t contain their disdain for the films they’re in (Elizabeth Olsen, I’m looking at you). Here’s what Dakota had to say about the poor reception of Madame Web:
“Films are made by a filmmaker and a team of artists around them. You cannot make art based on numbers and algorithms. My feeling has been for a long time that audiences are extremely smart, and executives have started to believe that they’re not. Audiences will always be able to sniff out bullsh*t. Even if films start to be made with AI, humans aren’t going to f*cking want to see those.
But it was definitely an experience for me to make that movie. I had never done anything like it before. I probably will never do anything like it again because I don’t make sense in that world. And I know that now. But sometimes in this industry, you sign on to something, and it’s one thing and then as you’re making it, it becomes a completely different thing, and you’re like, Wait, what? But it was a real learning experience, and of course it’s not nice to be a part of something that’s ripped to shreds, but I can’t say that I don’t understand.”
“I’ll probably never do anything like it again.” Also, “I can’t say that I don’t understand.” Honesty!
She throws a little bit more shade at E.L. James for her over-involvement in the 50 Shades movies, which was said to be a huge reason why the movies were so ridiculous but which I’m grateful for because I love those ridiculous movies:
“Then with something like 50 Shades, the author was extremely precious about words, clothing, anything, everything. And it was really difficult to have any kind of freedom and spontaneity and authenticity because you’re in such a small margin…It's also about control and feeling powerful, and that’s not what art is. There is so much room for the author to be present if they’re able to collaborate on what is the best possible outcome of that project. I understand if you’re precious about it being a certain way, but then don’t allow somebody else to adapt your book.”
Here I would like to note that if anyone would like to buy the rights to my books and then make them into films, I will be extremely hands off. I’ll take the money, get a symbolic producer credit, visit the set once and let you do your thing. Let’s make it happen, Hollywood!!!
Here’s one quote out of context: “When people are really good at things, it is [sexy.] Except being a dictator.”
Dakota hasn’t seen the photo that Gwyneth posted of her and Dakota holding hands. Dakota is barely online!
Once I tried to explain to Hollis the entire Gwyneth/Coldplay break up and their subsequent friendly blended family relationship and you guys, he hadn’t even heard the term “consciously uncoupling.” Opposites attract!
She refers to working on the film Daddio as her “salvation” from Madame Web.
“Most days I feel like the most useless piece of sh*t. I’m sitting in this dumb*ss chair, talking about this dumb*ss movie, and there are people in excruciating catastrophes, and what can I do?”
I hate to say "relatable” but if the shoe/dumbass chair fits…
Dakota hated school and found it boring. She hated rules as a child and was very defiant. This is behavior that’s welcomed and championed when you have generational wealth and creative parents! I’m imagining the difference of perception if we described, say, a kid at my son’s public school this way (instead of a kid at an art school). This isn’t even a knock on Dakota, just an observation that it would be nice if people who weren’t rich had this sort of freedom to explore their own interests.
Dakota’s a Swiftie! Her favorite album is Lover.
Dakota does Transcendental Meditation, which we already knew, but I like to hear about it as much as possible. You may remember that during a weirder time in my life, I came VERY close to spending a large sum of money to attend a TM course, and only stopped because it was in a hotel conference room and that felt scammy to me. I love meditation but don’t do TM (no money, no mantra…although I did hear that you can just google the mantras they use? Is this true???), but when Dakota says “It is very easy on your nervous system and it just regulates your brain waves. They say that 20 minutes of TM can be like a two-hour nap,” I have to admit…I’m still curious.
Dakota gets mad when people misinterpret what she’s saying. “I got into a funny little fight with somebody. I was really annoyed by everyone in the world talking about my sleep schedule, and someone that I know was like, “But do you really sleep 14 hours a night? That’s amazing.” And I was like, “Did you read the article or did you just read the f*cking headline? Asshole.” I bit her head off.”
This isn’t even close to everything contained in that interview. And there are SO many pictures of Dakota holding baby goats. Go read it! See you soon, but probably not SO soon (unless there’s another Dakota interview out this week). I’m going to read Beautyland, even though I literally have three books I need to finish by the beginning of next week (lil’ “yikes face” emoji). But will that stop me from picking up a copy this week…hmmm, what do you think? xo
Is it weird that I repeatedly paraphrase The Charge of the Light Brigade? Probably, but what else am I supposed to do with the random lines of poetry that roll around in my head constantly? NOT share them? No thanks!!
This reminded me that years ago I was a baby shower (you can get into awkward conversations about your writing career ANYWHERE!) and a woman who found out I wrote YA looked down her nose at me and asked if I wrote about “silly girls.” I’m still trying to think about what she meant, really! I guess ultimately what she meant was that she wanted to make me feel bad, for some unknown reason because we had literally just met.
"you can get into awkward conversations about your writing career ANYWHERE" - too real