Dakota Johnson planning to direct her first feature film

Dakota Johnson is planning to make her feature directorial debut.

The Fifty Shades of Grey actress and her TeaTime Pictures producing partner Ro Donnelly revealed at the Kering Women in Motion talk at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday that they are developing a project written by actress Vanessa Burghardt.

Johnson explained that she feels so "protective" of Burghardt, who played her daughter in the 2022 film Cha Cha Real Smooth, that she has to be the one to direct her story.

"The girl that plays my daughter, Vanessa Burghardt, she is an autistic actress and musician and brilliant person, and we have been working with her on developing a script," Johnson said, reports Deadline and Variety. "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 and 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."

The 35-year-old recently stepped behind the camera to direct the 23-minute short film Loser Baby, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) last year.

She admitted that she was disappointed when nobody wanted to pick it up and make it into a TV show.

"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**king make it," she shared. "And I was like, 'Why? That's such a global conversation, and it should be talked about all the time,' but whatever. So it was a proof of concept that just is sitting there, proofing."

Johnson is in Cannes to support the comedy Splitsville, which she produced and stars in. It will premiere on Monday night.