Actress Dakota Johnson says it was 'mayhem' filming Fifty Shades Of Grey

LOS ANGELES - The erotic romantic drama Fifty Shades Of Grey (2015) turned American actress Dakota Johnson into a globally recognised name, but she has described the shooting process as "crazy" and "psychotic".

The film, which starred Johnson as student Anastasia Steele and actor Jamie Dornan as billionaire Christian Grey, was based on British author E. L. James' 2011 novel of the same name.

The 2015 film subsequently led to two sequels, Fifty Shades Darker (2017) and Fifty Shades Freed (2018), both which were also based on James' novels of the same name.

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair magazine, Johnson, 32, said: "I signed up to do a very different version of the film we ended up making."

She told the magazine that it was a combination of several factors, including the studio and directors, as well as James, who goes by Erika.

"She had a lot of creative control, all day, every day, and she just demanded that certain things happen," Johnson said.

"There were parts of the books that just wouldn't work in a movie, like the inner monologue, which was at times incredibly cheesy."

English actor Charlie Hunnam was originally scheduled to play the role of Grey in the movie, but he quit, later citing a scheduling conflict.

Johnson said James was so angry that she discarded the script.

"I was young. I was 23. So it was scary," Johnson said of the incident. "There were a lot of different disagreements."

After Dornan replaced Hunnam, Johnson said: "We'd do the takes of the movie that Erika wanted to make, and then we would do the takes of the movie that we wanted to make."

"The night before, I would rewrite scenes with the old dialogue so I could add a line here and there. It was like mayhem all the time."

The actress denied rumours that there was a feud between her and Dornan on set.

"There was never a time when we didn't get along," she said. "I know it's weird, but he's like a brother to me... And we were really there for each other."

Still, Johnson, who is in the comedy-drama film Cha Cha Real Smooth, said she did not regret making the Fifty Shade movies.

"If I had known at the time that's what it was going to be like, I don't think anyone would've done it," she said. "It would've been like, 'Oh, this is psychotic.' But no, I don't regret it."