Dakota Johnson makes a cannibalism joke and SHOCKS the audience

On Thursday night, January 19, 2023, at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City in Utah, Dakota Johnson shocked the audience as she candidly made a joke about the Armie Hammer and cannibalism scandal.

At the Sundance Institute’s Inaugural Opening Night: A Taste Of Sundance event, Dakota Johnson, 33 presented an award to her longtime friend and collaborator Luca Guadagnino which was held at the Basin Recreation Fieldhouse in Park City in Utah. Luca, who directed Dakota Johnson in a Bigger Splash and Suspiria, was a recipient of the esteemed Sundance Institute International Icon Award.

Dakota Johnson’s cannibalism joke 

In her speech, while presenting the award, Dakota Johnson talked about Luca Guadagnino directing Armie Hammer in Call Me By Your Name. While the Fifty Shades actress was onstage, she also applauded the director’s 2017 Oscar-winner Call Me By Your Name. The 2017 film also premiered at Sundance, she joked she was offered the role of the controversial peach in the coming-of-age movie but she had to turn it down due to schedule conflicts. She then made a controversial cannibalism joke in reference to the movie Bones and All and shared, 

“It was here at Sundance in 2017 that audiences experienced a film that is uniquely characterized by Luca‘s iconic approach to storytelling. The vision and the style of it is Call Me By Your Name. Sadly, I wasn’t in that one. It was unfortunate. Luca had asked me to play the role of the peach, but our schedules conflicted. Thank God, because then I would have been another woman that Armie Hammer tried to eat” to which the audience responded with plenty of laughs, and cheers.

The 33-year-old actress made the joke in reference to one of the most memorable scenes from the film, where Armie Hammer eats a peach that Chalamet’s character in the film had performed a sexual act on. Dakota added, “It’s been five years since that film premiered here and Luca hasn’t stopped taking us to exciting places. Who knew cannibalism was so popular?”

The viral social media scandal about Armie Hammer was hugely circulated online in fact a number of unverified messages contained graphic sexual fantasies that also mentioned cannibalism. The scandal had serious repercussions for Hammer as he lost his talent representation, and was even dropped from a number of high-profile projects, which included a show that was based on the making of The Godfather. The show was titled The Offer. Along with that, he was famously dropped from the Jennifer Lopez rom-com titled Shotgun Wedding. The actor was replaced by Miles Teller and Josh Duhamel in both projects respectively. 

During the pandemic, Armie Hammer was in the headlines for text messages that he allegedly sent to various women that were released online. These included various text messages which included his cannibalistic fantasies and sexual fetishes. In fact, he was also famously accused by several women of his abusive behavior.

The Sundance Film Festival 2023

The Sundance Film Festival has been one of the most awaited events of the year for all the film buffs out there. While the event was completely virtual for the past two years due to the pandemic, the event is back with a bang in 2023. This year, the festival returned with a brand new hybrid format which means it can be attended online and in person by the attendees at Park City in Utah. 

The Sundance Institute’s Inaugural Opening Night: A Taste Of Sundance event

On Thursday night, January 19, 2023, The Sundance Institute conducted the inaugural edition of “Opening Night: A Taste of Sundance.” The event was presented by IMDbPro and took place in Park City, Utah. It successfully kicked off the Sundance Film Festival by honoring a number of storytellers who have been tied to the Sundance family over the years.  While this was just an inaugural event, the Sundance will go on till January 29, 2023. 

The event also honored Black Panther: Wakanda Forever which is director Ryan Coogler. The film won the first annual Sundance Institute | Variety Visionary Award which recognizes renowned Sundance Institute alumni who are deeply connected to the organization and programs conducted by them.