‘Verity’ Star Dakota Johnson Says She Doesn’t Need to Prep for Steamy Scenes, Then Reveals the On-Set Secret That Actually Made Them Easier

On screen, a love scene is meant to look effortless: all heat, chemistry and spontaneity. Behind the camera, it is usually the opposite, with crew members, marked positions and take after take under bright lights. Few actors know that gap better than Dakota Johnson, who has spent a decade shooting some of the most talked-about intimate scenes in modern cinema.

Johnson became a household name as Anastasia Steele in the ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ trilogy, a franchise built on desire and controversy. She has also headlined projects like ‘Madame Web’ and the romantic comedy ‘Materialists’, and she has earned a BAFTA nomination along the way. The daughter of actors Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, she has always been candid about her work.

Now an old conversation about those scenes is back in the headlines. Appearing on Amy Poehler’s ‘Good Hang’ podcast on June 10, 2025, while promoting ‘Materialists’, Johnson was asked how she psyches herself up for bedroom scenes. Her answer, delivered with a laugh, was that she doesn’t have to, because she’s always ready. The line is being widely recirculated this week, but the interview itself is more than a year old.

Poehler burst out laughing, and Johnson went on to give a thoughtful account of how she actually approaches intimate material. She said her preparation depends on the character, including who the woman is meant to be to the audience and whether she is a super-idolized figure or something more grounded. In other words, the work is more about story than seduction.

Confidence, she explained, is the other key. She wants to feel good in her body if she is going to show it on screen. That attitude, she said, comes from her mother, who raised her to be proud of and love her body and who spoke to her openly about everything from periods to sex.

The most newsworthy part of the conversation was a revelation about her career. Johnson said that on a movie she had filmed a few months earlier, she worked with an intimacy coordinator for the first time. She called the experience great and said it changed how she saw a process she had long taken for granted.

Her description of what a sex scene really feels like was blunt. Having done so many of them, she said, she was used to the reality that they are not sexy and do not feel good, which is why having someone to choreograph and guard the process felt like such a relief. Part of the work, she joked, is the absurd physical business of things like slamming herself into a headboard.

Johnson noted that there were no intimacy coordinators when she and Jamie Dornan shot the ‘Fifty Shades’ films. The franchise made her famous, but it was also a difficult shoot. She has previously said she signed up for a very different version of the film than the one that ended up on screen, and described disagreements during production, including a battle with the creative direction on the first movie, directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson.

The comparison highlights how much the industry has changed. Intimacy coordinators have become more common on television and film sets, and stars of shows like ‘Bridgerton’, ‘I May Destroy You’, ‘Sex Education’ and ‘House of the Dragon’ have spoken favorably about them. Johnson’s experience adds a high-profile voice to that chorus.

Part of the reason the clip keeps circulating is its tone. Johnson manages to be funny and frank without being crude, treating the subject as both a punchline and a craft. For fans of ‘Fifty Shades’, it is also a rare look at how one of its stars reflects on those years.

It also speaks to a broader shift in how Hollywood talks about vulnerability. Rather than presenting intimate scenes as glamorous, performers are increasingly describing them as technical work that benefits from structure and trust. Johnson’s remarks make that point with humor, which may be why they keep finding an audience.

‘Materialists’, directed by Celine Song and starring Johnson alongside Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal, was the film she was promoting at the time. The A24 romantic dramedy gave her another chance to talk about love on screen, although the discussion of love scenes ended up stealing some of the spotlight.

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