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Dakota Johnson: You can believe in yourself but still be riddled with self-doubt

Photo credit: Stephane Cardinale - Corbis - Getty Images
Photo credit: Stephane Cardinale - Corbis - Getty Images

From Harper's BAZAAR

Dakota Johnson might be an internationally renowned actress with a number of successful films under her belt, but she still isn't immune to feelings of insecurity and low confidence.

Her new film, The High Note, sees her play frustrated PA Maggie to a superstar (Tracee Ellis Ross). Maggie dreams of becoming a music producer, but finds herself fighting against numerous setbacks - the latter of which Johnson relates to.

"I'm riddled with self-doubt and criticism and so is [Maggie]," says Johnson during a Zoom interview. "I still lose jobs and I don't get every job that I want. I have dreams of working with certain people on certain projects and it doesn't happen. It's a cutthroat industry so I'm used to being shut down."

Photo credit: Glen WIlson
Photo credit: Glen WIlson

The actress admits she'd definitely felt overlooked during her career, due to the nature of a film industry always looking for newness and the next big thing.

"It's painful and a fucking bummer," says Johnson, "But [Maggie] keeps going because it's all she has. I've experienced that... I still do all the time."

Such deflating moments haven't stopped her from going after what she wants professionally. Johnson names the inception of her film and TV production company TeaTime Pictures, which launched last autumn, as an example of a time that she was underestimated in Hollywood. "There were many people who said, 'you can't do it that way' or 'that way won't work' or 'you need to do this to get that place', but I really believed that I could do it a different way and I did," she says. "It's the same message that we see with Maggie. She believes in herself and I do too."

Watch Johnson star in the second instalment of our hard-hitting new video series, Full Disclosure, above, to hear her talk about why female ambition still has a bad name and why we need to rethink our perceptions of divas.

The High Note is available to rent at home from 29 May on Sky Store, Amazon Prime Video and other digital retailers.

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