For die-hard horror fans, the news that Luca Guadagnino would be remaking Dario Argento's "Suspiria" was exciting, but a little worrying. After all, it would take a whole lot of effort to live up to the witchy 1977 classic. Thankfully, the remake was a success, thanks in part to an unforgettable lead performance by Dakota Johnson as dance student Susie Bannion. Johnson's performance was certainly remarkable, but it came at a cost: her participation in the brutally intense film took a toll on her personal life. Want to know the details? This is how "Suspiria" changed Dakota Johnson forever.
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00:00Acting isn't always easy on actors,
00:03especially during intense film shoots.
00:05So how did the 2018 movie Suspiria
00:07take its toll on Dakota Johnson?
00:09And did it all pay off?
00:11Keep watching for the answers.
00:13Suspiria is a remake of a 1977 cult classic
00:17from Italian filmmaker Dario Argento.
00:19The basic story is the same in both versions,
00:22revolving around supernatural happenings
00:24at a dance academy.
00:25However, director Luca Guadagnino
00:27decided to put his own unique spin
00:29on the original movie,
00:30particularly when it came to the remake's
00:32horror elements and aesthetics.
00:34Susie, an inexperienced but talented American dancer,
00:37travels to Berlin from Ohio
00:39to audition for a prestigious dance academy.
00:42Their lead dancer Patricia has just left,
00:44having recently lost her mind.
00:46So Susie is able to fill in her space in the company
00:49and move into the dorm right away.
00:50Soon, however, it becomes apparent
00:52that Patricia's departure wasn't all that it appeared to be,
00:55and it may just have had something to do
00:57with a terrifying magical conspiracy.
00:59The remake pays plenty of homage to the 1977 version,
01:03but as Guadagnino himself told Flickering Myth,
01:06it isn't trying to be what he called, quote,
01:08a parasite of the original.
01:10For one thing, the remake's color palette
01:12is more subdued than Argento's bright technicolor original,
01:15and the setting needed to reflect that.
01:18Rather than use the original film for aesthetic reference,
01:21Guadagnino drew from German cinema of the 70s,
01:23such as the works of renowned director
01:25Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
01:27The key difference between the original and the remake
01:29is the incorporation of dance,
01:31which moves into the realm of grotesque body horror.
01:34Guadagnino felt particularly strongly
01:37that the movie's dance sequences
01:38needed to be closely linked with the rituals of witchcraft.
01:42Consequently, the choreography in Suspiria
01:44had to be powerful enough to cast a spell on its audience.
01:48Dakota Johnson had taken ballet classes as a child,
01:51but she trained with German expressionist dancers
01:53for a year before filming.
01:55She also continued to train before and after shoots
01:57during production.
01:59Johnson described the choreography of the movie
02:00to W Magazine by saying,
02:02"'Susie' feels an unearthly pull
02:04from the center of her body.
02:06It's sexual in an animalistic way,
02:08sexual in an aggressive, exploratory way,
02:11but it's not sexual to be sexy."
02:14Channeling this sensation added additional layers
02:16of difficulty and intensity to the choreography.
02:18On top of the exhaustive physical demands of the film,
02:21its themes of supernatural manipulation
02:23were bound to weigh heavily on the minds of any performer
02:26who channeled their character's emotions.
02:28The film ultimately took a toll
02:30on lead actress Dakota Johnson,
02:32who, according to her interview with Elle,
02:34actually had to go to therapy afterwards.
02:36It's been the craziest experience of my life thus far.
02:41She later clarified her comments to EW, saying,
02:44"'I'm a very porous person,
02:46and I absorb a lot of people's feelings.
02:48When you're working sometimes with dark subject matter,
02:50it can stay with you.
02:51And then to talk to my therapist about it afterwards
02:54is a really nice way to move on from the project."
02:56Luckily, Johnson and Guadagnino had collaborated before,
03:00in the 2015 drama, A Bigger Splash.
03:02Johnson spoke to the creative rapport they had built
03:04in an interview with HeyUGuys,
03:06explaining that the actor-director duo
03:08work hard to make their surroundings safe for everyone,
03:11an essential component of a film as intense as Suspiria.
03:14Then, of course, there's the environment
03:16in which the film was shot,
03:17which was challenging in its own right.
03:19Much of Suspiria was filmed in an abandoned hotel
03:22with no central heating in the dead of winter.
03:24Johnson later told W Magazine
03:26that being in the hotel gave her nightmares.
03:28One of the crew members was even injured during production.
03:31Johnson recalled,
03:32"'Our first assistant director broke his leg.
03:35He fell onto one of the sets.
03:36It was a dangerous set.'
03:38Ultimately, though, the pressures of the shoot paid off.
03:40Johnson elaborated,
03:42"'We had such an intense time filming it.
03:44We all felt so wild and passionate about it.
03:46Now, to see it in final form
03:48is really a feeling of accomplishment.'"
03:50Describing his favorite moments of horror in the film
03:52to MTV UK, Guadagnino pointed out,
03:55"'Everything we've described
03:56comes from the incredible power of performance
03:58of these wonderful actresses.'"
04:00He's definitely not wrong.
04:02Dakota Johnson and the rest of the impressive cast
04:04are instrumental in delivering the many moments
04:06of nail-biting suspense and gore,
04:08moments that make Suspiria such a singularly twisted film.
04:18Subs by www.zeoranger.co.uk