With her latest film, actress Dakota Johnson adds superhero to her extensive, and often eccentric resume. The actress, the daughter of “Working Girl” Melanie Griffith and “Miami Vice” Don Johnson (stepdaughter of “Zorro” Antonio Banderas) and the granddaughter of iconic Hitchcock blonde Tippi Hedren (“The Birds,” “Marnie”) knows Hollywood, and she’s made a wide array of interesting choices in her career. Let’s run down the best of Dakota Johnson in advance of her “Madame Web” debut.
While Johnson made a memorable but brief appearance in the star-studded “The Social Network” in 2010 (streaming on Starz or rent) in a scene opposite Justin Timberlake, her first breakthrough was the charming but short-lived 2012 comedy sitcom “Ben and Kate” playing a single mom whose brother helps raise her daughter (available to purchase on Amazon or iTunes).
But Johnson became a star after her turn in the erotic drama “Fifty Shades of Grey” in 2015, opposite Jamie Dornan, based on the blockbuster BDSM-lite erotica series by E. L. James. Johnson brought a fearlessness and her signature sly knowingness to the naif Anastasia Steele in this campy titillation, which persisted for two sequels, “Fifty Shades Darker” and “Fifty Shades Freed.” Stream all three movies on Max or Peacock.
But as she was starring in “Fifty Shades,” she was also experimenting with much more daring work with Italian auteur Luca Guadagnino, starring in “A Bigger Splash” (2015), and holding her own against Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes and Matthias Schoenaerts. This sexy, dangerous European summer vacation flick is a loose remake of the French thriller directed by Jacques Deray starring Alain Delon and Romy Schneider; Johnson plays a version of the young daughter who’s brought along on the trip originally played by Jane Birkin. Rent “A Bigger Splash” on all platforms and stream “La Piscine” on Max and the Criterion Channel.
