Dakota Johnson has revealed that she plans on directing a film for the first time in her career, based on a screenplay by actor Vanessa Burghardt of Cha Cha Real Smooth fame. Talking at the Cannes Film Festival with Ro Donnelly, the partner at her TeaTime Pictures banner, Johnson stated, "The girl that plays my daughter [in Cha Cha Real Smooth], Vanessa Burkhart, she is an autistic actress and musician and brilliant person, and we have been working with her on developing a script. She’s written a script, and it’s really special, and it’s about a young woman with autism. I feel very protective of her and her story in her mind, she’s just an unbelievable woman. I just don’t think I could allow anyone else to direct it. So we’ll see."

It is worth noting that Dakota Johnson has already made her short film directorial debut Loser Baby, which had its premiere at last year's The Toronto International Film Festival. Johnson expressed her disappointment at the lack of a television series adaptation of Loser Baby. "It’s a short film about queer friends living in Los Angeles and their relationships and their complications and their friendships and their sexuality and their identity, and nobody wanted to f**ing make it. And I was like, ‘Why? That’s such a global conversation, and it should be talked about all the time.'"

Johnson attended the Cannes Film Festival for her film Splitsville with director Michael Angelo Covino.