Johnson plays a tearful woman who comes out as a lesbian at age 32 just as her lifelong best friend drops shocking news about herself.
For pop culture fans who live their lives on the internet, the amusing and awkward exchange between Dakota Johnson and Ellen Degeneres will forever be burned into our minds. Back in 2019, the Ellen DeGeneres Show host insisted she wasn’t invited to the Fifty Shades of Gray star’s birthday party, but Johnson cheerfully corrected her (“Actually, no, that wasn’t truth, Ellen”) before noting that someone who was in attendance was Tig Notaro, whom the actress called her “favorite comedian” as DeGeneres looked away, comically bored.
As it turns out, the legendary conversation moment wasn’t the only result of the now infamous party. That night, Johnson and her favorite comedian became fast friends, and Notaro later asked the actress to star in her directorial debut, Am I Okay? , which happens to be the coming-out story of the film’s scribe, Lauren Pomerantz, an Emmy-winning writer for The Ellen DeGeneres Show, who was also present during the infamous exchange.
After premiering at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, Am I Okay? , which Notaro co-directed with her wife and comedian Stephanie Allynne ( The L Word: Generation Q ), hits Max on Thursday, June 6, and EW can exclusively reveal the much-awaited trailer from long (below), filled with strange anxieties, strong female friendships and plenty of tears – oh, and the introduction of your new favorite euphemism: tasting “vagina cream”.
The film stars Johnson as Lucy, a 32-year-old woman whose world is rocked by the realization that she is a lesbian and the news that her lifelong best friend is Jane (Sonoya Mizuno). is also embarking on a major change in her life: moving house. from Los Angeles to London for great work opportunities. I agree? is equally about Lucy’s journey into the gay dating pool for the first time while feeling truly ancient about coming out, as it is an exploration of Lucy and Jane’s platonic friendship, which thrown into chaos by changes in women’s lives.
“I’m 32 years old; I should have realized this by now,” Johnson’s Lucy says in the trailer, crying in bed (Note: This isn’t the only crying Johnson does in the movie, but there are many More on that ahead). In what may be a relevant moment for many viewers, Lucy is taking the online “How to Tell if You’re a Lesbian” quiz and turns down a hot woman who asks her to dance awkwardly, admitting to Jane that “I’m nervous”. all the time, and I’m afraid of everything.”
“Trying new things can be really scary,” she tells Jane, who protests that Lucy will “try 20 different flavors of ice cream” before choosing a scoop. “Cream is different from…vagina,” Lucy declared. “How do you know? You don’t know,” Jane encouraged her as only a truly close friend could.
“I took my whole coming out story and I used it, and I actually based it on a real-life friendship with my best friend Jessica [Elbaum], who is also the producer of this film.” “I started writing it as a friendship movie based on our friendship. We had a big argument, and then we were friends again, but at the same time, I was having a hard time. difficult to go public with. And so I realized that that was the story.” I really want to tell.
Although she had no intention of casting an actress to play Lucy, Pomerantz said that she was “pretty excited” when Johnson came on board and noted that, as Notaro told her, she and the actress This is a bit “awkward” in the movie. their behavior. “She’s amazing, and I’m so grateful that she did it. She captured everything I could have hoped for in that character – the confusion, the insecurity, all of it.” also the inner turmoil that I think was really revealed.”
Pomerantz noted the ease of making the film with other queer women directing. “We got to talk about it, about the characters and really explore that relationship and those emotions,” she said of Notaro and Allynne. “It was easy to talk to them about everything because Stephanie had experience [about coming out later]. And Tig is so smart and funny and creative. It was great. I loved working with them. …There’s definitely a shorthand like, oh, do you remember these feelings? Yes, I had those feelings too.”
