Dakota Johnson Talks Fifty Shades Darker, Nude Sex Scenes and What She Likes About BDSM

The actress reprises her role as Anastasia Steele in the Fifty Shades of Grey sequel

By Corinne Heller Jan 13, 2017 3:49 PMTags

Like her Fifty Shades of Grey character, it seems Dakota Johnson keeps an open mind about the franchise's NSFW subject matter.

In the upcoming sequel, Fifty Shades Darker, the actress reprises her role as Anastasia Steele. She is the wide-eyed, curious girlfriend of Jamie Dornan's character Christian Grey, a wealthy businessman with a large sexual appetite and fondness for BDSM (bondage and discipline—B&D, dominance and submission—D&S, and sadism & masochism—S&M.

"First of all, there are some very chic avenues in BDSM," Johnson told Vogue in an interview published in the magazine's February 2017 issue, whose cover features the actress. "It can be very beautiful and tasteful, and the materials can be luxurious." 

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Dakota Johnson's Best Looks

"It's not like being on Hollywood Boulevard and walking by a ball-gag store," she said. "But what I admire is the bravery and the honesty of people who get down with it, who aren't afraid to say that they need something a bit more in order to get off. America is still so sexually oppressed. Isn't God's gift to humans the orgasm?"

Johnson added that when she films a movie, she would like to feel as though she is not making the film for anyone but herself and signaled that she had a personal interest in making Fifty Shades of Grey, her first major film role.

"I know that's not going to happen, but the thing about Fifty Shades is that even if it's commercial and mainstream, the subject matter isn't," she said. "In that way I can do something mass but stay true to my weird interests."

Fifty Shades Darker is set for release on Feb. 13. Johnson calls her character a "hyperintelligent," "hypersexual," "very tough" and "very loving" "badass."

Johnson appeared nude in multiple scenes in Fifty Shades of Grey and also stripped down in the movie A Bigger Splash. Like its predecessor, Fifty Shades Darker is rated R for strong erotic sexual content and graphic nudity, as well as language.

"Will I stop doing nude scenes when my boobs start sagging? I don't know," Johnson told Vogue. "Maybe I have more of a European mind-set about these things. I don't want to see someone wearing a bra and underwear in a sex scene. Let's be honest about it. People are naked when they f--k."