Even if you're just acting, it has to be pretty nerve-wracking cursing out Johnny Depp.
That's exactly what Dakota Johnson had to do in her most emotional scene in Black Mass (in theaters Sept. 18).
The two have an explosive confrontation in a hospital.
"I feel like neither of us was there," Johnson told me at the Toronto International Film Festival. "I was completely slipped away from myself because I've not experienced anything like that so it had to come from somewhere else."
In the Scott Cooper-directed film, Depp plays real-life Boston mobster "Whitey" Bulger, who is currently in prison serving a double-life sentence for multiple murders. Johnson plays his girlfriend and mother of his young son.
In the scene, the couple comes to an explosive end after an unexpected tragedy.
"Scott came over at one point and it was a very, very quiet set that day. Scott came by and was like, ‘This man, who has been such a good man to you and you've been infinitely better to him and your child, and all of a sudden now he's turned on you, and he's making this your fault and making you the monster. What are you going to say to him? And just go,'" Johnson explained. "So I did and a lot of bad words came out of my mouth. I don't remember the exact dialogue, but I don't think those words were written in [the script]."
Many awards season pundits predict Black Mass will be scooping up Oscar nominations.
"It feels so exciting to be a part of telling a story that people are so excited watching," said Julianne Nicholson, who plays the wife of FBI agent John Connolly (Joel Edgerton). "That feels like the most satisfying thing. I've never had this experience to this degree."
Johnson agreed, "It really is extraordinary. I think that the people behind and in this film are so extraordinarily talented, that they are deserving of all the accolades."
While there may be a lot of cursing, Johnson's parents Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson won't be avoiding Black Mass like they did with their daughter's star-making turn in the sex-filled Fifty Shades of Grey.
"They can see it," Dakota beamed. "My mom is seeing it on Wednesday."