Dakota Johnson once lost a role after being branded “pompous” and “cocky” for shaking hands during an audition.
The Fifty Shades of Grey actress, 36, said the incident happened during a callback early in her career, when she entered the room and greeted the creative team before performing her scene.
Speaking on Hits Radio while promoting the UK release of her new movie Splitsville, Dakota described how the feedback she later received criticised what she believed was simple politeness.
Dakota said: “I had an audition once, and it was a callback, and I went into the room, and I shook everyone’s hand and introduced myself.
“Then I did the scene, and I left. The feedback I got was that because I had gone and introduced myself and shook everyone’s hand is that I was pompous. That I was schmoozing, and I was full of myself, and I was like, ‘What?’
“I didn’t get the job because they said that I was being cocky, but I just had manners… it was pretty crazy.”
Dakota stars in and produced the dark comedy through TeaTime Pictures, the production company she co-founded with Ro Donnelly.
The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival before opening in the US in late August and is now playing in UK cinemas, with streaming availability in the US on Hulu.
It is directed by Michael Angelo Covino and co-written by Kyle Marvin, with Adria Arjona among the cast.
Dakota has also spoken about her motivations for launching her own production company.
She told Variety in Cannes in 2025: “So much of why I wanted to start a production company and make my own movies is because I want more from this industry. I want more from my experience as an artist.
“I felt so thirsty for more conversation and more creativity and more collaboration. I found myself as an actor, a few times, showing up to the premiere of a movie to see it the first time and saying, ‘Woah. That is not what I thought we were making’. That is such a weird thing to do.”
Splitsville centres on two couples whose relationships are disrupted when the husband of a divorcing couple sleeps with the wife of a couple in an open marriage.
Dakota described the happy working environment on the film, saying: “The way that we build our sets is really vibe based. Energy based. It’s very much a no a**hole policy.
“The other thing is that we really ensure that every person on the crew knows what we are making, so everybody feels a part of it.
“Working in movies… the hours are long and it’s gruelling. It’s not comfortable. It’s not nice. When you feel like you’re genuinely invested in something, people are happier and they work better.”
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