Dakota Johnson Didn't Book Audition For Manners, Reacts

by Stephanie SoteriouBuzzFeedBuzzFeed StaffI’m an innately nosey and chronically online celebrity and pop culture journalist, with my specialist areas including deep-diving lyrics and calling out Terrible Men™.

Back in 2024, Dakota Johnson was asked about her “most traumatic audition story,” and an example immediately came to mind.

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Speaking to MTV, the star recalled a time that she was criticized for being “pretentious” when she dared to introduce herself to the people in an audition room.

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While she did not name the project that she was trying out for at the time, or any of the creatives involved, Dakota did reveal that the audition was for a TV series.

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“I got told by a creator of a show — the feedback was that I was pretentious because I shook everyone’s hand in the room,” she said. “I was like: ‘What?!’ I wasted their time because I was like: ‘Hey, I’m Dakota,’ and introduced myself and shook hands.”

MTV / Via youtube.com

Fast-forward to this year, and Dakota has shared some more insight into this bizarre experience in a new interview with Hits Radio UK. She said: “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.”

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“Then I did the scene, and I left,” Dakota went on. “And the feedback I got was that because I had gone and introduced myself and shook everyone's hand, that I was, like, pompous. That I was schmoozing, and I was full of myself, and I was like: ‘What?!’”

HitsRadioUK / Via tiktok.com

“I didn't get the job because they said that I was being cocky, but I just had manners… It was pretty crazy,” Dakota continued.

HitsRadioUK / Via tiktok.com

You can watch the full interview moment here:

> @hitsradiouk A QUEEN WITH MANNERS 😭💖 #dakotajohnson #splitsville

♬ original sound - Hits Radio UK

HitsRadioUK / Via tiktok.com

And Dakota’s revelation has prompted people to share their own experiences of times that they were penalized for basic good manners, with one person even revealing that they were warned against this kind of behavior when working as an actor.

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Writing on a Reddit forum, they explained: “as an actor I was told very young to not walk in and shake everybody’s hand. Instead, walk in, give a friendly hello to the room, shake hands if offered, but don’t initiate. I’ve been told thirty different reasons why you shouldn’t shake everyone’s hand, but never had anyone suggest you should do it.”

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Another user wrote: “I remember I once went into an audition for an Adidas commercial and the director had a person waiting by the door to greet us and shake our hands. He said it was because he didn’t wanna get sick shaking hands and I asked him, ‘oh so he can maybe get sick instead?’ I didn’t get the job lol.”

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“I was on Kid Jeopardy back in the day and the online forums made fun of me for saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ too much. I WAS RAISED TO RESPECT MY ELDERS! ALEX 👏TREBEK 👏WAS 👏OLD! 👏,” somebody else shared.

Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images

“this actually unlocked a memory for me because i used to think being super polite and soft spoken would make people like me more, but it just made me invisible in certain situations… like i remember in an interview i kept smiling and waiting my turn and the guy literally cut me off twice 😭 ever since then i’ve been trying to be a little more direct even if it feels uncomfortable at first, because apparently ‘too nice’ really is a thing for women,” one more wrote.

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NBC

“I had the same once. Interviewed for a job and during the interview I had a bad vibe from the team leader interviewing me and she made me not wanna work for her anymore.Then during the interview she coldly tells me ‘you smile a lot’. WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO SAY TO THAT!? I said ‘yeah? I suppose I do?’ To which she responded ‘you're, like, very smiley. You smile a lot’ as if it was a bad thing,” another redditor recalled.

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A24

And somebody else concluded: “I also related to this based on my interviewing experience as well. I introduce myself, smile, shake hands, nod agreeably during the [conversation], and speak professionally and knowledgeably. But, I feel like some organizations don’t like that, or they’re intimidated by the person. I hate how interviews have basically become a likability test based on biased perceptions.”

Do you have any experience of being penalized for basic manners? Let me know in the comments below!

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