Dakota Johnson’s Domino effect: How the actor-producer brought ‘Cha Cha Real Smooth’ to life

The ‘Persuasion’ star on starring in the coming-of-age drama from Apple TV+, playing complex mother characters, and why she decided to start a production company

Expectations are notably high surrounding Cha Cha Real Smooth. The Sundance darling, director-actor Cooper Raiff’s second feature, was bought by Apple TV+ for $15 million, just months before its last Sundance acquisition CODA picked up the Oscar for Best Picture. 

There’s more: Cooper is one of Hollywood’s most intriguing young wonderkids, getting his big break thanks to the Duplass brothers, a couple of years ago when his 2020 outing Shithouse won the Best Narrative Feature award at South by Southwest. 

But most interesting of all, is the casting of Dakota Johnson (she also co-produces the film), in what represents a pivotal moment in her career. 

From stunning audiences across the world in the immensely-popular Fifty Shades movie franchise, to working with the likes of Luca Guadagnino ( Suspiria, A Bigger Splash), the star is in coveted A-list territory today. Signing an indie film that sees her play the mother of a teenager on the autism spectrum is a daring move for someone, who will next be seen in big-budget productions like Netflix’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion and as the titular Madame Webset in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.

But Dakota’s career graph over the last half-decade has truly impressed everyone in the industry, working with a melange of talented first-time and second-time directors, many of them women too, on stories ( The Peanut Butter Falcon, How to Be Single) that have struck a chord with her.

Cha Cha Real Smooth (that smartly borrows its title from DJ Casper’s Cha Cha Slide) could well propel her into a different league; the coming-of-age drama follows the tender, funny tale of a young college grad’s infatuation with an older woman — while trying to find his calling — and how the relationship between the two develops, amidst a host of other vivid characters.

Excerpts from an interview with Dakota, over a Zoom call: