Dakota Johnson says HBO should have ‘warned us’ about portrayal of grandmother Tippi Hedren in The Girl

Dakota Johnson has opened up about her reaction to the portrayal of her grandmother, Tippi Hedren, in the 2012 HBO TV film The Girl.

The film centered on The Birds star Hedren’s relationship with Alfred Hitchcock. Hedren has previously spoken about her experiences of sexual harassment at the hands of the famed filmmaker.

Johnson, who is the daughter of actors Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, told Vanity Fair that their family should have been warned before viewing the film for the first time.

“We sat at HBO, my family, and watched that movie together,” Johnson recalled of watching Sienna Miller portray her grandmother in the 2012 film. “It was one of those moments where you’re just like, ‘How could you not have warned us?’

“We’re in a room with some execs. Maybe this warranted a little conversation beforehand?”

The Independent has reached out to HBO for comment.

Johnson said, during the viewing, she looked over at Hedren and saw “a woman who’s just been reminded of everything she went through, and it was heartbreaking”. “She was an amazing actress and [Hitchcock] stopped her from having a career.”

When making the allegations against the director, decades after his passing, in 2016, Hedren said that Hitchcock threatened to ruin her career after she rejected him. She alleged that he became hell-bent on trashing her name around Hollywood.

“What happened with my grandmother was horrific because Hitchcock was a tyrant,” Johnson told Vanity Fair. “He was talented and prolific – and important in terms of art – but power can poison people.”

Johnson added that Hitchcock once sent her mother Griffith a replica of Hedren in a small coffin at Christmas.

Hedren previously compared Hitchcock to disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein. “I'm watching all the coverage on Weinstein,” the actor said in 2017. “This is nothing new, nor is it limited to the entertainment industry.

“I dealt with sexual harassment all the time, during my modeling and film career. Hitchcock wasn't the first.”