Have you guys seen Splitsville? Dakota Johnson starred in and produced the film, which came out in the US last year. I rented it at some point and I thought it was okay. It was a weird film overall, and it reminded me of an offbeat ‘90s pseudo-romance but with modern references. Anyway, Splitsville is coming out in the UK, and Dakota is currently promoting it by doing some British media. She ended up telling a really interesting and infuriating story about one of her worst auditions:
Dakota Johnson revealed during a recent interview on Hits Radio while promoting the U.K. release of “Splitsville” that she once failed an audition simply for shaking the hands of the creative team when she entered the room. The actor was just trying to be polite ahead of reading her lines. She was later told that she was “pompous” and “cocky.”
“I had an audition once, and it was a callback, and I went into the room, and I shook everyone’s hand and introduced myself. Then I did the scene, and I left,” Johnson said. “The feedback I got was that because I had gone and introduced myself and shook everyone’s hand is that I was pompous. That I was schmoozing, and I was full of myself, and I was like: ‘What?’ I didn’t get the job because they said that I was being cocky, but I just had manners… It was pretty crazy.”
Johnson’s dark comedy “Splitsville” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year before opening in the U.S. in late August from Neon. Not only does Johnson star in the film but she also produced it through TeaTime Pictures, the production banner she co-founded with Ro Donnelly.
What’s crazy about “walking into a room, shaking everyone’s hand and introducing yourself” is what men are expected to do as a bare minimum, right? That’s seen as businesslike and professional when a man does it. What was Dakota supposed to do, slink into a room demurely, quietly announce “I’m Dakota” while looking at the floor, and then do her audition? I guess that’s how a lot of men expect women to act. I bet you anything that Dakota, a nepo baby, was told by her parents to always shake hands and introduce herself too – that sounds exactly like the kind of advice that Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith would have given her.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- Dakota Johnson attends the “Highest 2 Lowest” red carpet at the 78th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 19, 2025 in Cannes, France.,Image: 1001040751, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Olivier Sanchez/Avalon
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- Dakota Johnson seen on the Red Carpet for Highest 2 Lowest during the 78th Festival de Cannes (Cannes International Film Festival) at Palais des Festivals, Cannes, , France on 19 May 2025. Picture,Image: 1001042761, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: World Rights – Julie Edwards/Avalon.Red, Model Release: no, Credit line: Julie Edwards/Avalon
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- Dakota Johnson of “Splitsville” attend the “Highest 2 Lowest” red carpet at the 78th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 19, 2025 in Cannes, France.,Image: 1001046508, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Olivier Huitel/Avalon
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- Dakota Johnson seen at the Photocall for Splitsville during the 78th Festival de Cannes (Cannes International Film Festival) at Palais des Festivals, Cannes, , France on 19 May 2025. Picture,Image: 1001057069, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: World Rights – Julie Edwards/Avalon.Red, Model Release: no, Credit line: Julie Edwards/Avalon
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- 4th Annual CARING FOR WOMEN held at The Pool, Seagram Building,Image: 1036343706, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Dakota Johnson, Credit line: Udo Salters/Wenn/Avalon
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- Dakota Johnson at the 16th Governors Awards in the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, November 16, 2025.,Image: 1053001651, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: ©A.M.P.A.S. All rights reserved., Model Release: no, Credit line: /AMPAS/Avalon
Pompous? How is not assuming people know who you are pompous?
It’s definitely not pompous, but it is outside of protocol when auditioning. You don’t shake hands and introduce yourself because you “slate” your name on camera. They might be seeing a hundred actors, and they want to keep it moving. They want you to walk in, stand on your mark, slate for the camera, then read your assigned “sides”. If they want anything else from you they tell you. This is auditioning 101.
That’s not true at all for a *callback* for someone at Dakota’s level, though (not saying her level of acting ability, but rather her status within the industry.). She’s not going to big cattle call type auditions.
Wait, were there only men in the room?
You can bet that only men were in the room. Media is THE industry where men are predominantly present. Magazines, Film, News.
I don’t think auditions include members of the media.
But yeah, the casting director and whomever else was in the room were likely men.
👎🏼
Whoever it was sounds like they want women to be meek. Shaking someone’s hand and introducing yourself by first and last name shows confidence which is not the same as being pompous. Pompous is “Do you know who I am??” Good lord, she was doing the basics of being professional.
Almost without fail, whenever someone someone shakes my husband’s hand in an introduction, I’ll reach out my hand when I’m being introduced next and dudes’ faces are like, “Why would I shake your hand? You’re a woman.”
That sucks that Dakota lost consideration because she was being polite.
That is basic politeness…
Curious if it’s the norm for a star to shake hands and introduce themselves, but not an up and comer. There is always such specific little inside rituals for these sorts of things.
Politeness is really about establishing hierarchy.
In general, when auditioning, it’s not protocol to introduce yourself and shake hands. You go to your mark and then “slate” your name on camera. Which means you state your name, age, and your agency if you have representation. So introducing yourself is redundant and seen as a waste of the casting director’s time. They might be seeing a hundred actors and want to keep it moving.
No one weaponises etiquette like my adopted countrymen. Having said that, as an American, I always plead total ignorance. They don’t attribute malice to someone who’s truly clueless. It’s like inside baseball. But they do needle each other something terrible.
Women and men of color are treated this way.
Was this her very first audition? Because actors who go out on auditions know the rules. You don’t introduce yourself and shake hands. You stand on your mark, and when they start rolling the camera you “slate” your name on camera, which means to state your name, age, and agency if you have representation. Introducing yourself and shaking hands is redundant, and seen as a waste of the casting director’s time. For the actor it’s just 5-15 minutes, plus the time in the waiting room, whereas the casting team might be there 14 hours. Then you read the sides they provided you with, which is usually 1-2 pages of the script. If they have notes and want you to read it again, you do that, then they say thank you and you leave. The people in that room would have expected Dakota to know what the protocol is in an audition. I don’t think she was pompous, just inexperienced.
They teach you how to audition when you study acting. I’ve been an actor auditioning as well as having assisted on the casting side.
@Mikethedirection Yes it’s still the same protocol at a callback. It’s exactly the same, except the sides might be different. And yes even at Dakota’s level. A callback is literally a second audition, just in a smaller pool of actors.