Pedro Pascal Says Dakota Johnson Was ‘Not Nice’ When They First Met

Pedro Pascal and Dakota Johnson may be good friends now, but their path up to this point hasn't always been so smooth — though according to the pair, recollections do vary. The actors are currently co-starring in a new rom-com, Materialists, and to promote the movie the Last of Us actor interviewed the Madame Web star for ELLE UK. The end result was... illuminating.

After a bit of back and forth, Pedro said in the interview: "OK, I have a list of questions here, provided by ELLE. And I have a good one. This one I love! Dakota, when and where did we first meet?"

Given his reaction to the question, it's clear that there's a backstory here - and it's one that we're now all privy to. In response, Dakota said: "According to whose truth? Do you want your story or my story?" to which Pedro replied: "According to the truth?"

Expanding on why this is a funny point on contention between them, Dakota said: "So yours is the truth because you’re the man. Your truth is that we met first with somebody. Was it with Sarah Paulson? Was it at the Met?"

Pedro then told her that that was the second time, before explaining: "It was the Golden Globes 2014. It wasn’t during the ceremony; it was the after bit, when they usher you out and you go directly into some kind of HBO party. You knew Sarah and so met me, and you were on your own. They probably wouldn’t give you a plus one. So, we banded together, and we looked after you."

But Dakota said that she had no memory of this happening, and still thinks that the first time they met was at the Met Gala some years later. Recalling their first impressions of one another, Pedro said: "Well, I loved you the first time and then I didn’t think you were that nice to me at the Met Gala. You weren’t mean, but I was building the interaction of having already met you. And I had a moment of feeling a little stupid because it was like, 'Oh, she doesn’t remember me.'"

But all's well that ends well, as Dakota said: "I find the Met Gala is like The Twilight Zone. I don’t know what the f*ck is going on. I don’t feel I connect with any human beings in a real way; it’s like going into some sort of vortex. By the way, this is not the first time I’ve had this conversation with you. This is maybe the 37th time we’ve had this conversation. The 37th time Pedro makes me feel like an absolute piece of sh*t for not remembering him. My first impression of you was: 'Wow, this guy is so cool. What a nice man that I’ve definitely never met before.' And then I loved you very quickly."

Materialists is set for a UK release on 15th August 2025.

Materialists | Official Trailer HD | A24 - YouTube

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