By Rollo Ross and Danielle Broadway
August 21, 2025 – 3:08 AM PDT
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – For Dakota Johnson, it was important to showcase both her acting and producing talents for the romantic comedy film “Splitsville.”
“I’m more valuable, I think, on set and in post (production), because I know the beat, like the heartbeat of the film while we’re making it,” Johnson told Reuters.
“I’m good at helping on set. And then in post, I’m good at remembering the energy of what it felt like while we were filming so I can implement that in the edit,” the “Fifty Shades of Grey” actor added.
“Splitsville,” distributed by Neon, will arrive in theaters on Friday.
The film focuses on two couples. Johnson plays a woman named Julie who is married to Paul, portrayed by the movie’s director Michael Angelo Covino.
Another couple, Ashley and Carey, is played by Adria Arjona and Kyle Marvin.
The film follows Ashley, who tells her husband Carey she wants a divorce to be free to satisfy her sexual needs.
Carey runs to his best friend Paul, who reveals he and his wife Julie are in an open relationship, and things get complicated between the four of them when Carey and Julie sleep together.
“I would say it’s not so much about adulting. I would say it’s more about, like, emotional development, like arrested development,” Johnson said, referring to the way each character acts.
“Especially in men, I think it’s emotional intelligence versus arrested development,” she said.
Covino said he felt Dakota was perfect for the role from the get-go.
“We wrote the role for her,” he said.
“She’s wildly funny and doesn’t get to flex it as much as I would like to see on camera,” Covino added.
Reporting by Rollo Ross and Danielle Broadway; Editing by Chris Reese
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