Shubhabrata Dutta
Dakota Johnson had been a part of more than 10 movies before ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ arrived in 2015. And yet it is ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ that we still remember her from and it is in that movie that she proved that she is here for the long run. It catapulted her into becoming a sex symbol but more importantly, it pitched her as an actor with a powerful onscreen presence, one that the audience will have a tough time shifting away their eyes from.
The result of Johnson’s growth as a performer was movies like ‘Black Mass,’ ‘Bad Times at the El Royale,’ ‘Cha Cha Real Smooth,’ ‘Our Friend,’ ‘A Bigger Splash,’ ‘The Lost Daughter,’ and ‘The Peanut Butter Falcon.’ In each of these movies, Johnson does a commendable job of establishing her characters and has garnered a huge fan following. So, if you are one of her fans and you are bent on finding out when she will return to your screen, here we have all her upcoming projects sorted out!
1. Daddio (2024)
A drama movie almost entirely shot inside a cab, ‘Daddio’ is written and directed by Christy Hall (co-developer and executive producer of Netflix’s ‘I Am Not Okay With This’). Sean Penn plays Clark, a New York City cab driver, who engages in a conversation with his passenger Girlie (Johnson), a young woman, while taking her from JFK airport to Hell’s Kitchen. What follows is an intense conversation about human nature as well as personal revelations among other serious stuff. The only other cast member that we know of is Marcos A. Gonzalez, who plays a taxi attendant. The movie premiered at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival and will be released on June 28, 2024. You can check out the teaser trailer here.
2. Am I OK? (2024)
A comedy-drama directed by Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne, this ‘Am I OK?’ premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2022, but is yet to arrive on HBO Max this year on a date that too hasn’t been revealed. The film follows 32-year-old Lucy, hailing from Los Angeles, who embarks on a personal journey with her best friend Jane after realizing that she is a lesbian. How tough can dating women in 30s be? Johnson stars as Lucy and Sonoya Mizuno as Jane. The cast also includes Jermaine Fowler, Kiersey Clemons, Molly Gordon, Tig Notaro, and Odessa A’zion. The story has been penned by Lauren Pomerantz. Johnson and Notaro have also served as producers.
3. Materialists (TBA)
This A24 romance drama has been written and will be directed by Celine Song. While Johnson, Pedro Pascal, and Chris Evans, all three are rumored to be in it, we shall keep our fingers crossed and wait for the rumor to be true. The story is set in New York and follows a matchmaker who falls into a love triangle (the other two angles being a current wealthy man and a broke actor/waiter from her past). This triangle threatens to compromise her lucrative business big time. How she deals with it is what we find out. The movie is currently in its pre-production stage and we are yet to receive a release date.
