Dakota Johnson on Hollywood's Ageism: 'This Industry Is Fucking Brutal'

By Stassa Edwards  |  January 6, 2016 | 2:10pm
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In an interview with Vogue UK, Dakota Johnson spoke openly about the ageism her mother and grandmother face in Hollywood. Johnson—the daughter of Melanie Griffith, 58, and granddaughter of The Birds star Tippi Hedren, 85 (both of whom share the distinction of having been mauled by lions)—said that at the age of 26, she wasn’t too worried about her immediate future in Hollywood. She also suggested that her mother and grandmother have been unable to say the same.

“Why isn’t my mother in the movies? She’s an extraordinary actress,” Johnson asked in the interview. “Why isn’t my grandmother in the movies? This industry is fucking brutal,” she said. “No matter how tough you are, sometimes there’s the feeling of not being wanted. It’s absurd and cut-throat.”

She went on to say:

“No matter how tough you are, sometimes there’s the feeling of not being wanted. It’s absurd and cut-throat. Whenever I have downtime, I’m unsure that I will ever work again. I don’t know what it is, but it’s a definite thing that happens to me.”

Johnson also defended her starring role in Fifty Shades of Grey, a movie that was hard to watch in all of the wrong ways. “I’m proud of Fifty Shades of Grey. I don’t need to distance myself from that. The more work I do, the more the general public sees the different things I can do,” she said. “Do I think it opened doors? Yeah. More people know my name.”

Johnson’s comments come after a number of actresses have publicly criticized Hollywood for its double standard when it comes to aging. In May, Maggie Gyllenhaal—nearly decrepit at 37—said that a producer told her she was “too old” to play the love interest of a 55-year-old man. “[It’s just one of the] disappointing things about being an actress in Hollywood,” Gyllenhaal said.

Image via AP.

 
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