From The Straits Times    |

Fifty Shades Darker expands on events set in motion in 2015’s box-office smash that collected US$85 million (S$120 million) on opening weekend in the United States and grossed more than US$571 million globally.

The new film, opening here tomorrow, was shot back to back with the third, Fifty Shades Freed, to be released next year.

Talking about the latest movie, Johnson, wearing a Shaina Mote dress in black – her favourite colour – looked like the girl next door. Not unlike her character Anastasia Steele, a virginal college girl who gets involved with a kinky billionaire, played by Jamie Dornan.

Fifty Shades Darker

Image: PopSugar

The movies are based on the best-selling books by E. L. James, whose husband, Niall Leonard, wrote the scripts. The second and third films were directed by James Foley.

“These films are juggernauts, and sometimes they can be frightening,” said the 27-year-old US actress, on her misgivings about doing the erotic films.

“I don’t regret it, but I don’t always feel 100 per cent positive. I get waves of fear, and I get waves of feeling like insecure or wondering what people are going to take from this.”

Her interview skills have improved marginally since our interview last year for How To Be Single.

That is not saying much, but at least she did not give the impression of not wanting to be present. Or perhaps her acting skills have just improved.

Fifty Shades Darker

Image: Popsugar

When asked to expand on her answers to British Glamour magazine on her favourite sex toys, Johnson said, laughing: “That is so inappropriate.”

She added: “Doing a film where that is such a prevalent concept, you do research and I learnt as much as I could about the lifestyle. There are some really beautiful aspects. I don’t have a favourite sex toy.”

Working with Foley was a different experience from the first movie, which had a female director, Sam Taylor-Johnson.

She said: “He did an incredible job. The first film was perfect for what it was. The way this one was made, he was very much the right man for the job.

“It is more saturated and has more of a thriller aspect, and it is more suspenseful. It was interesting going from working so closely with a woman to working on the same material with a man. It was enlightening.”

Even the scenes that are not sexually explicit are emotionally intimate.

Fifty Shades Darker

Image: Splashnews

She became close friends with Northern Irish actor Dornan, 34, from spending six months shooting in Vancouver.

Said Johnson: “That was quite a lucky thing to have happened, especially in this situation, because we are so intimate.

“Even the scenes that are not sexually explicit are emotionally intimate. So the fact that we get along and can hang out outside of work and do stuff on the weekends, it is a lot nicer.”

Johnson’s actor parents, dad Don and mum Melanie Griffith, have not seen the films.

“When it came to me doing this job, they didn’t have a choice. I was pretty adamant.

“I think they would like to be able to see these movies that have put me in this place in my life, but because it is pretty inappropriate…” she said, trailing off with a laugh.

“They don’t judge me on what projects I decide to do. They judge me more on what kind of human I am.”

Fifty Shades Darker

Image: Tumblr

With the overwhelming interest in her, Johnson said she has withdrawn from social media.

She said: “I abstain from it because I don’t feel I need to explain who I am to anyone. If there is some sort of perception of me, then that is what that is.

“My job is to be an actor and make movies, it is not to try and make sense to anyone.”

 

This article was first published on thenewpaper