Dakota Johnson on modern love, happy endings and open relationships in her new film ‘

Those of you who are married, who have been in a relationship for years — and those who are still looking — know that the conversation about relationships has changed shape. At gatherings with friends, around the kitchen table, at bars and even on television, people are talking about alternative and additional ways to love. Terms such as swinging, open marriages and polyamory are taking up more space and no longer being whispered from one ear to the next.

The new comedy Splitsville is the second collaboration between Michael Angelo Covino and screenwriter Kyle Marvin. While their first film, The Climb, dealt with a coming‑of‑age bromance between two childhood friends, this time they decided to tackle the institution of marriage — and more specifically, what happens when you open it.

Junket – Dakota Johnson – Splitsville

From Splitsville

(Photo: Courtesy of Forum Film)

The wild comedy opens with one of the funniest scenes seen on screen in recent years and follows two married couples. When Ashley (Adria Arjona, “Hitman”) announces to her husband Carey (Marvin) that she wants a divorce, he falls apart and turns to his happily married friends Julie (Dakota Johnson) and Paul (Covino) for emotional support — only to discover that the secret to their seemingly happy marriage is an open relationship. Following the revelation, Carey crosses a boundary and upsets the delicate balance among all four friends, sending their friendship and love lives into a spiral of repression, denial, lies and total chaos, all delivered through witty dialogue and masterful physical comedy.

“The goal was to make something wildly entertaining and emotionally honest,” Covino told The Hollywood Reporter. “Something that feels familiar in the setup but constantly surprises in the execution.”

In a video interview with ynet, Johnson admits that a large part of her appeal (she is also a producer through her company TeaTime) was the comedic element. “The film is very funny,” she says. “And I think it’s way better to approach difficult subjects with humor.”

Dakota Johnson

(Photo: Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP)

Johnson told the media that the screenplay for Splitsville was sent to her production company long before she signed on as an actor. She was in an extremely busy, chaotic period and doesn’t even remember when it reached her company, but it found its way back to her later with an offer to play Julie. The script and the opportunity to collaborate with Covino, Marvin and Arjona struck her as the right thing to do, and part of that was the creative freedom and the chance to sit down with Michael and Kyle on the script, to explore the character of Julie, and to write jokes that would make her more quirky and interesting. That’s when she decided the film was a perfect fit for her production company.

“I wanted to play Julie,” she shared in an interview with the site MammaMia, “because she’s a woman who seems like she’s okay and has to put on a really brave face for everybody and take care of everyone around her. But really, inside Julie is a very sad and very unhappy woman, and that just felt very honest to me. This character felt like a lot of women that I’ve witnessed in my own life.”

Covino shared that when he and Marvin were brainstorming ideas for the screenplay, he was engaged and about to get married, prompting many conversations. “Kyle and I started talking about this idea of what happens when someone gets married and immediately begins to wonder if they made a mistake,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “What if they married the wrong person — or they’re just not sure? What does it look like when someone pulls that rip cord and everything spirals from there? We also kept coming across articles — there was something in the zeitgeist. This conversation around non-monogamy and open relationships just kept popping up. People were talking about it more openly, exploring it more seriously. That kind of became the kernel of the idea.”

Dakota Johnson; from Splitsville

(Photo: Courtesy of Forum Film)

And yet, despite the changing conversation, it seems many people still choose the conventional path and the institution of marriage. Johnson herself doesn’t place much weight on the matter. “I think some people want to be married and some people don’t, and I think it’s totally okay,” she says. “I know people who are married and have a real partnership, and it makes sense for them. And I know people who’ve been together for longer than anybody, and they are not married. I don’t think it really matters.”

Johnson, 36, had her breakout role in 2010’s The Social Network, and has since appeared in numerous films, including the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy — which launched her into global stardom — How to Be Single, Suspiria, The Lost Daughter, Madame Web and more. She’s the daughter of actors Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson. Her Hollywood family tree also includes her grandmother, screen icon Tippi Hedren, and her former stepfather, Antonio Banderas.

Dakota Johnson

(Photo: Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP)

She’s had several long-term relationships, the most prominent of which was an eight-year romance with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. The two went public in 2017 after months of speculation — coincidentally during a surprise visit to Israel for a Nick Cave concert in Tel Aviv. Their relationship often sparked rumors of an engagement, but it was revealed only a few months ago that the two had split. Johnson arrives at the ynet interview shortly after the breakup. The timing — discussing a film about relationships — seemed to make her slightly hesitant. She appeared to pause before answering, choosing her words carefully, and generally seemed a bit uneasy.

When you first read the script, did it shift anything in your perspective on relationships?

“I just think it’s an interesting topic, and it gets people thinking and talking and asking questions. And it’s also just really funny and a very entertaining subject matter.”

Johnson recently starred in Materialists, another film that explores modern love and dating. In it, she plays a New York matchmaker torn between Pedro Pascal’s wealthy character, who offers her the life she’s always dreamed of, and Chris Evans, a struggling actor and her legendary ex. It’s clear — being her isn’t easy.

Now that you’ve starred in Splitsville and Materialists, do you think we’re getting better and more honest at telling those kinds of stories — or are we still chasing the fairy tale?

“People are always going to want a fairy tale ending, and I like that,” she says with a slight smile. “I want to believe in magic and in happy endings. When you just accept reality, it is probably wiser, but it’s not really what we want to see.”