-My first guest is a talented actress
who stars in the new movie, "Our Friend,"
which is in theaters and On Demand this Friday.
Here she is, Dakota Johnson!
Hi, Dakota! -Hi.
-Thank you so much for being on the show.
-Thanks for having me. -You look great.
I haven't seen you in a while, so we have a lot to catch up on.
First things first, last March you gave a tour
to "Architectural Digest," and the Internet loved it.
I loved it, too. It was just --
People were fascinated with your green kitchen
and your love of limes. -Yes.
-During the tour,
you very clearly state that you love limes.
Take a look at this video.
-I love limes. I love them.
-Yeah. Now what do you do with all those limes?
-I actually didn't even know that they were in there.
I was giving the tour and went into the kitchen,
and it was set dressing.
I'm actually -- I'm allergic to limes.
-Oh, my -- Stop it, now.
-[ Chuckles ] Yeah, I'm mildly allergic.
And honeydew melon, so another green thing from the outside.
-You're good with the honeydew melon.
-Oh, no, and the inside.
[ Both laugh ] -You can't just --
No one eats the outside of a honeydew melon.
-It's kind of beige, and then the inside is green.
-Yes. Correct. Yes.
I wouldn't eat the outside.
-It makes my tongue itch.
-But limes do the same thing?
-Um, kind of.
Limes make my tongue itch, too, yeah.
-Really? -Yeah.
-That's so bizarre. I mean, you had a lot of --
So, it was just set dressing, and it looked pretty,
and then you were like, "Yeah, I love limes."
You're just talking, going with the flow.
-Yeah, because it was hard to just ignore them,
so I just lied.
Just lied. [ Both laugh ]
I went the full opposite direction.
-Unbelievable.
I'm glad you came clean, man. -[ Laughs ]
-I know that you've also been working on projects.
Your production company, TeaTime Pictures, I love that.
How's it going?
-TeaTime is going really well.
We are actually gonna shoot our first movie
that we're producing, starting February 1st.
And Tig Notaro, who you love, and who I love...
-I love Tig! -...and Stephanie Allynne --
they are married -- are directing together.
-No way!
Oh, I love them. What's it called?
-We're in a very heated debate about the title at the moment,
so it has no title. [ Laughs ]
-"Lime Time" or "Honeydew"?
-"Honeydew" is not bad. I would watch that movie.
-I'd see "Honeydew." -I'd see "Honeydew."
Has nothing to do with the movie.
-Yeah, no, I'd have to read the script first.
But I'm sure Tig will -- She'll have a good title.
-Yeah, I'm excited. It's gonna be fun and funny.
And it's, like, really contained and short
and in L.A., and it'll be -- it'll be cool.
And then we make these lists every month --
Well, now, we used to do it weekly of,
like, top 10 lists of what's the best to watch,
because I get -- I don't know about you,
but I get really overwhelmed with kind of content overload
of like "What -- What am I supposed to watch
on all of the platforms with all of the amazing shows?"
-There's too many good shows. -We kind of comb through them.
-And then, I also heard that you're into music playlists.
What do you make playlists for?
-Everything. I make them for, like,
certain times of the year or certain moods
or road trips or dinner parties. -Yeah, dinner parties.
-Movies -- I do it a lot for characters and things.
-Like, if you and I were to go on a road trip,
what kind of music would you put on for us?
-Well, what's the vibe in our car?
-Fun, hittin' the road.
You're driving. Um...
-I'm driving? -I think so, yeah.
Do you want to be passenger seat?
-Well, are we, like -- Is it, like, high energy?
Does it have an arc? Does it go, like,
we start out, maybe we do --
Maybe it starts with "By Your Side," by Sade,
because I'm sitting next to you, by your side, in the car.
And then we're kind of groovin'.
And then, maybe it gets really upbeat halfway through,
because we're bored, and it's a road trip.
-I could see us -- -And then we get in a fight.
And then it goes to, like, Philip Glass.
-Yep. We get in a little tiff.
-Rolling hills. -We get in a tiff.
But then we have to go, like, to the restroom.
We get a snack, get our blood sugar back up.
And then we make up again. -Yeah, when we stop for a snack
and you go to the restroom, then it's,
"Waiting on a Friend," by the Stones.
-I was thinking at one point, do we sing
"Hit the Road, Jack" and really get into it
and, like, fake lip-sync and, like, laugh and stuff?
Wait. Now I'm driving.
-Oh, yeah, well...
-Don't worry about it. I'll drive.
-That's what the fight was,
because you're a back-seat driver so then you take over.
'Cause I don't like fighting. -No, I don't like fighting,
but, you know, I'm not even a back-seat driver,
but it's either go with the GPS or don't go with the GPS.
I can't be watching you going like, "What?
What do you mean make a right? I would never make a right."
I go, "Yeah, then turn it off." Just go your way.
-Got it. Got it. But if we go like --
♪ Hit the road, Jack, and don't you come back ♪
-Where are we going? -Then you go like...
♪ That's right ♪ It's like that.
And we start choreographing a thing to it.
Maybe you have a kerchief.
-Probably, yeah, 'cause we're in a convertible.
-Now we're talking. -Yeah.
-You know we're definitely in a convertible.
-Where are we going? -I think we're just touring,
like, those weird things that you can see, like, on Route 66,
like, World's Biggest Ball of Yarn, stuff like that.
-Okay, yeah.
-Just for like for some Instagram photos to post.
-My kind of road. -This sounds fun.
I like starting with Sade, by the way, that's my jam.
"By Your Side." That's my one.
-Great song. -Oh, God, right now --
-I'll make you a playlist. -You will?
-Yeah. -I'd love one.
Hey, I want to talk about your new movie.
-Okay. -It's called "Our Friend."
-Yeah. -It's based on a true story.
For anyone who doesn't know it, can you set it up?
-Yes. It's based on a true story of a couple who, the wife --
the woman has terminal cancer.
And their best friend moves in and sort of takes care of them.
And throughout this, this story, like tumbling over the years,
it's about, like, immense friendship
and pain and torture and, like, tragedy,
but also humor and levity and love
and most of all just compassion.
-You do a great job in the movie.
We even get to hear you sing a little bit.
I don't think we've heard you sing before, right?
How was that experience? -No.
That was so scary.
I actually had -- I have a little bit of stage fright.
Like, I -- When I come on your show,
I get really nervous,
and I laugh and then cry most of the time.
-[ Laughs ] You've cried.
Yeah, you've cried a couple times, yes.
-I've cried a couple times, which that's fine.
I'm used to it by now, but singing in front of people
is actually so terrifying for me.
And we had to shoot the scene where you don't even
really see me, the camera's, like, in the back of a --
like, you can't even really tell what's going on,
and I was meant to be performing in, like, community theater.
And they hit playback of my voice --
my vocal recording and called "action," and my --
it was like I had a panic attack that manifested in all the ways
that it does, that it can,
so, like, I just took off running.
Running, like around the theater, around backstage.
I was running around, and then just started
laughing hysterically, and everyone on the crew's like,
"What's she doing?"
Running around, laughing, and then just stopped moving
and started crying. -Yeah.
Just complete -- Just embarrassment?
Or you spun yourself out?
-I just, like, got -- I don't know.
It took over. I got so scared.
It was like extreme flight mode.
-Gosh. For the scene --
Were you doing something from a play, right?
Was it "Checkers" or something? -Yes.
-That was the scene? [ Both laugh ]
-Yeah, you know that really famous musical, "Checkers"?
-Yeah, of course, the famous musical, "Checkers."
But that was -- Ah, come on, that was so fun.
Well, you're great in it. I want to show everyone a clip.
Here's Dakota Johnson in "Our Friend."
Take a look.
-I'd like to be blonde.
No, I, um...
I want to have blue hair. [ Chuckles ]
And I also want to go to New York one last time
and see "Les Mis."
And, um...
Mardi Gras. I want to be a grand marshal.
And, um...
I want to sing on stage with Katy Perry.
-Dakota Johnson. "Our Friend" is in theaters
and On Demand this Friday.
When we come back, Dakota is going to settle
some of the biggest debates of all time.
Stick around.