Dakota Johnson has 'no shame' when it comes to '50 Shades of Grey'

Dakota Johnson has ‘no shame’ when it comes to ’50 Shades of Grey’

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Johnson plays young college grad and bookworm Anastasia Steele. You might have also seen her in “Ben and Kate,” “The Five-Year Engagement,” “The Social Network,” and “Beastly.” (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

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Mumford plays young journalist and Anastasia Steele’s best friend and roommate, Kate Kavanaugh. You might have also seen her in TV series “Crash,” “Lone Star” and “The River.” (Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images)

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Ora plays Christian Grey’s bubbly, adoptive sister Mia Grey. The British singer is best known for her vocal chops and had few acting credits to her name, save for an uncredited appearance in “Fast & Furious 6” and a cameo in “90210.” (Joel Ryan / Invision / Associated Press)

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Ehle plays Carla Steele, Anastasia’s mother. You might have also seen her in “Zero Dark Thirty,” “A Gifted Man,” “Contagion,” “The Ides of March,” “The Adjustment Bureau” and “The King’s Speech.” (Neilson Barnard / Getty Images for the New Yorker)

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Director Sam Taylor-Johnson has also done “Nowhere Boy” (2009) with Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Kristin Scott Thomas. (Eamonn McCormack / Getty Images)

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Producer Dana Brunetti was nominated for an Oscar for “The Social Network” and executive-produced Netflix’s “House of Cards” and the 2010 film “Casino Jack,” both with Kevin Spacey. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images For TheWrap)

By Nardine Saad

Feb. 6, 2014 6:28 PM PT

“Fifty Shades of ... Ana!” Actress Dakota Johnson assumed the character of B&D plaything Anastasia Steele for Elle magazine’s March issue.

The “50 Shades of Grey” star poses for the cover and inside spread wearing all the trappings of a boudoir babe: thigh-high stockings, sexy heels and that smoldering come-hither stare.

Johnson poses on the cover bedside -- on her knees -- in a demure John Galliano frock juxtaposed with the headline: “Meet Dakota Johnson, the star of ’50 Shades of Grey.’”

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The shoot, it turns out, is several shades tamer than what the starlet is willing to do for the highly anticipated film based on E.L. James’ erotica trilogy. The story chronicles the relationship and many sexual encounters between Ana, a college grad, and the enigmatic billionaire Christian Grey, played by Jamie Dornan.

“Reading the book, I found myself more interested in the ways they were breaking each other down emotionally than the sex scenes, the 24-year-old told Elle. “I think there’s a part of a woman that wants to be the thing that breaks a man down.”

The actress, daughter of actors Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, is currently shooting the film and hyping it, though it’ll still be a year before it hits theaters on Feb. 13, 2015.

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And she isn’t holding back when it comes to the playroom acrobatics required of an actress playing Ana.

“I don’t have any problem doing anything,” she said. “The secret is I have no shame.”

Still, the film can only go so far when it comes to graphic content.

“Obviously, the film can’t be as explicit as the book,” producer Michael De Luca said at the Sundance Film Festival last month. “The book is explicit by design because the author wanted to go inside the head of Ana -- the female lead -- and detail her experience. On the literary level, that was necessary. But in a film or any visual medium, a picture is worth a thousand words. To be erotic onscreen is going to have more power than to read the words on a page.”

Not to worry, though, the screen adaptation is “going to give [fans] what they expect, which is an intense and erotic love story,” he added.

The March issue of Elle hits news stands Feb. 18.

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