“Fifty Shades of Grey” starlet Dakota Johnson made a big splash this past week thanks to millions of views accrued by the film’s steamy first trailer, and now she has signed on to co-star alongside Ralph Fiennes and Tilda Swinton in “A Bigger Splash,” an individual familiar with the project has told TheWrap.
Luca Guadagnino (“I Am Love”) is directing from a script by Dave Kajganich. Michael Costigan is producing the film, which is based on the 1969 French crime drama “La Piscine.”
Story explores the uneasy love triangle that develops between a young woman and an older couple during their vacation, leading to a tragic ending.
Alain Delon and Romy Schneider starred in the original film alongside Jane Birkin, who played the younger woman.
“A Bigger Splash” is scheduled to start production next month in Italy.
While Johnson has been courted for several major studio movies, she has decided to focus on smaller, more intimate dramas to better prove herself as an actress. Many Hollywood insiders worried that an erotic, nudity-filled movie like “Fifty Shades of Grey” might impair Johnson’s career but that doesn’t appear to be the case, as she recently worked with director Scott Cooper and Johnny Depp on WB’s Whitey Bulger movie “Black Mass.”
Also read: ‘Fifty Shades’ Star Dakota Johnson to Lead ‘Forever, Interrupted’
Johnson has also used her budding stardom to put indie projects together, as she’s attached to star and produce an adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s “Forever, Interrupted.”
“Fifty Shades of Grey” will hit theaters in time for Valentine’s Day, and we suspect audiences will fall “crazy in love” with the rising actress, who showed no fear in tackling the demanding role of Anastasia Steele.
Johnson is represented by WME and Management 360.
Variety first reported Johnson’s casting in “A Bigger Splash.”