Who would ever forget the raunchy film that launched Dakota Johnson’s career? Fifty Shades of Grey is a 2015 erotic romance movie based on E.L. James’ novel of the same title. Johnson played Anastasia Steele, an inexperienced college senior, while Jamie Dornan portrayed the enigmatic businessman Christian Grey.
Despite its R-rating, the movie was a raging success, with a whopping $569.7 million in global earnings. It was followed by the sequel Fifty Shades Darker in 2017 and Fifty Shades Freed in 2018. The conclusion to the trilogy marks the lowest-grossing installment in the franchise, with only $372 million in earnings worldwide.
Dakota Johnson Reveals Jamie Dornan’s Secret Method For Filming Intimate Scenes
In an interview with Natalie Morales of TODAY, Fifty Shades of Grey co-stars Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson talk about their steamy sex scenes. The host asked how they were able to get in the moment during these intimate shootings. The pair looked at each other, and Johnson responded:
“Jamie has a fluffer.”
The host laughed and asked, “What’s a fluffer?” and Dornan just hid his face in total embarrassment. He tried to explain the term in the most television-friendly way, and Johnson later apologized for dropping the word. Dornan answered:
“It’s a worthy job, but we haven’t required one yet.”
A fluffer, in layman’s terms, is a person employed in pornographic movies to keep the male adult star aroused on set. Dornan knew that Johnson would say something witty, but he did not expect it would catch him off-guard. The actress is known for her candidness during interviews.
Johnson jokingly admitted that she was unaware of the erotic scenes in the film and that she should have read the books. Indeed, the film had a lot of various s*xual acts, including BDSM and the use of s*x toys. The first of the trilogy is known to be the s*xiest of all, with the book containing 13 percent s*xual scenes.
Dakota Johnson Had To Mentally Prepare For Steamy S*x Scenes
In line with prepping for their awkward movie scenes, Dakota Johnson shared in an exclusive interview with ET Online her and Jamie Dornan’s rituals before engaging to work:
“Shot of whiskey [and] mints. He does pushups, and I just lay there and drink whiskey.”
Dornan revealed they got close to each other over the duration of filming three movies:
“Dakota and I are very close. We’ve got a great sort of love and respect for each other. We’re great friends, and I think that makes it easier, you know? So it’s definitely more comfortable.”
Physical preparation was only a part of their job. Johnson admitted that she had to mentally ready herself. In another interview, she shared:
“I mean, there is a lot more of my body that’s shown than Jamie’s, actually. I really had to get ready for it each time and know exactly what we were going to do and how we were going to accomplish shooting the scenes, the more intimate ones. Over the course of the three films, it never got easier.”
Indeed, Dornan and Johnson did a lot of physical and psychological training before getting on their scenes.
Fifty Shades of Grey is available on Netflix, Prime Video, and Apple TV.
Sources: TODAY, ET Online 1, 2
