This is the actors’ first project together, although they have known each other for more than a decade. Johnson told Vogue that the film provides “a glimpse into a relationship that seems to be quite intense and fiery.” She described Skarsgård as “calm and down for anything.”
Skarsgård said he “absolutely” adores Johnson, though one part of the shoot apparently tested that affection. He joked that her fast driving during production left him terrified.
Why is Valentino bringing Vendetta back?
The campaign is not merely a glossy excuse to place two attractive actors in scenic locations, although it is certainly very committed to that task. Vendetta revives the name of a Valentino fragrance first introduced in 1991, giving the fashion house a 35-year-old identity to build into a new range.
Skarsgård has a personal memory of the original scent. He recalled applying far too much of it before school dances in the 1990s, which suggests teenage fragrance habits have changed very little.
The revived line includes separate Donna and Uomo fragrances:
- Vendetta Donna, priced at $115 by Vogue, was created by Dominique Ropion and Andrew Everett. It combines tuberose, blood orange and sandalwood.
- Vendetta Uomo, listed at $105, comes from perfumer Marie Salamagne and uses ginger, a cinnamon-liquor accord and patchouli.
Those formulas give the campaign an actual commercial purpose beneath all the coastal staring. Valentino is using a familiar name to launch its first new fragrance franchise since 2020, while Johnson and Skarsgård supply the visual argument that buying perfume may lead to dramatic encounters near private aircraft. Results will presumably vary.
How does Dakota Johnson approach intimate scenes?
Johnson has spent much of her career discussing the gap between how intimate scenes look and how they feel to film. Her work in the Fifty Shades of Grey series made her especially familiar with carefully staged sexuality, and she has continued to take on physically exposed roles in films including Materialists.
During a June 2025 appearance on Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast, Johnson joked that she is “always psyched up for sex,” before offering the less glamorous production reality.
“It’s a sex scene. It’s not sexy. It doesn’t feel good,” she said.
Johnson explained that her preparation depends on the character and how that person should appear to the audience. She considers whether the woman is idealized, lonely, frightened, conservative or living an ordinary domestic life. Those details shape the performance rather than the scene simply becoming a generic display of attraction.
She also credited her mother, actor Melanie Griffith, with teaching her to feel confident about her body. Johnson said she wants to feel comfortable physically when a role requires exposure and that this confidence helps the work feel real. Her father is actor Don Johnson.
Skarsgård has also continued choosing projects with deliberately provocative imagery. A trailer for the erotic film Wicker recently attracted attention for transforming him into a seductive wicker figure, because cinema occasionally arrives at concepts nobody had requested but many people will still discuss.
Is the campaign connected to Johnson’s breakup?
No reported evidence links the advertisement, Skarsgård or its fictional romance to Johnson’s personal life. Separate reports from Us Weekly and Parade said Johnson and musician Tucker Pillsbury, who performs as Role Model, recently ended their relationship after he had confirmed the romance and featured her on his album.
The timing placed the breakup coverage alongside the Vendetta release, creating an easy opening for speculation. The available reporting supports only a simpler explanation: Johnson and Skarsgård are actors promoting a fragrance, and the intensity was produced for the camera.
That distinction matters because the campaign is designed to make manufactured chemistry look spontaneous. Gavras supplies the atmosphere, Pet Shop Boys provide the soundtrack and the actors sell a relationship in one minute. Valentino, meanwhile, sells the bottles.
