Photographs by Tom Schirmacher, styling by Heathermary Jackson.

How does one explain the allure of Dakota Johnson, a woman the internet can't get enough of? There's the storied family (parents Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, stepdad Antonio Banderas and grandmother Tippi Hedren), and her roles in massive blockbusters The Social Network, the Fifty Shades trilogy and Madame Web, plus indie masterpieces A Bigger Splash and The Lost Daughter. Then there's the rock-star boyfriend: Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. Throw in a medley of sexy ease, wry humour and a shaggy fringe that tousles the eyebrows just so. Oh, and her friendship with one of Hollywood's most major leading men, Pedro Pascal.

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This summer, the friends star in the summer's most anticipated release, A24's Materialists, from Past Lives director Celine Song. In true rom-com form, a love triangle emerges between Pascal's Harry, a wealthy bachelor living in a beautiful $12m New York City apartment, who's ready to sweep professional matchmaker Lucy (Johnson) off her feet, and her problematic ex John (Chris Evans), who's working as a waiter while looking for his big break.

Together on Zoom, Johnson (in her trailer on set in Queens, New York) and Pascal (in a hotel for an extended stay in London) are unguarded, funny and, occasionally, delightfully foul-mouthed, in a tone that evokes two laid-back buddies sharing gossip over wine. We listen in...

DAKOTA: OK, I just got in my trailer and am under my weighted blanket, so I can feel safe.

PEDRO: Well, there's no weighted blanket heavy enough that's going to possibly help you through this...

D: Oh, God. Are you in your special hotel in London? I just don't understand how you can stay for that long without a kitchen.

P: Look, I just sacrificed all the cooking that I do in life. I know it's hard for you, because you cook so much. 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?

D: According to whose truth? Do you want your story or my story?

P: According to the truth?

D: 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?

P: 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.

D: That's so crazy that I don't remember meeting you there. It feels like something substantial happened to me that night and I'm blocking it out.

P: So then, when you think we first met is about 10 years later... Did we have any first impressions of one another?

D: You go first...

P: 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.'

D: 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 shit 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.

P: The hurt that I felt at the Met Gala was connected to love. Do we have any similarities to each other?

D: That we are both incredibly good-looking? (Both laugh again.)

D: I wanted to do our movie because I really wanted to work with Celine. I loved Past Lives. I loved meeting her even more. I loved the way she spoke about movies and people and feelings. And the reason I met her is because of you, isn't it?

P: I mean, I know that I talked about you to Celine before you guys had conversations about this movie, because I was friends with her. But I didn't have any horse in the race, because I wasn't in the movie at that time.

D: I also loved that Celine used to be a matchmaker in real life. I find the whole concept of the film so interesting, because it's so foreign to me. I've never dated anybody. I've had boyfriends, but I have never been on a dating app. I just don't know that world. So, it was so interesting and intriguing. It's the most beautiful side of humanity, but it can also be the most ugly. Loving someone is the most scary and beautiful thing you can do.

P: What makes it the most ugly to you?

D: Even the title of our movie - that people can basically get to a place where they deny their true soul's needs or their true heart's needs because of what they think they want or need in a materialistic way, which is sad to me. But also, for some people, really great. Who the f*ck am I to judge?

P: I guess you're right - who are we to judge? There are so many ways of understanding love. But I think what would mean something to you or me is linked to what real intimacy and vulnerability is. And so, when it comes to any kind of status game, it's very painful.

D: I didn't really grow up in LA. I travelled with my parents and with a tutor until I was 10 years old. I went to a bunch of different schools all over and we lived in Spain for quite a while, because my mom and Antonio were married. At one point, I went to an all-girls Catholic boarding school. That was an interesting experience.

P: What were the circumstances around that? Did you have discipline issues? Were you getting in trouble?

D: Was I getting in trouble at that point? No. I think my dad thought it would be a good place for me. But I moved back to LA and went to New Roads [private school] for the last three years of high school.

P: What subjects did you enjoy and what were you good at?

D: I was bad at basic school stuff because I never learnt time management or did my homework. I enjoyed English. I was good at Spanish, I was not at math. I did visual arts, and then at one point they had a pseudo-theatre program that I was a part of, and then I got kicked out of it because I abandoned my schoolwork and started failing classes.

P: Did you graduate school?

D: I graduated and only applied to Juilliard. And I didn't get in.

P: Really? (Pedro holds middle finger to the screen.)

D: That f*cking process was so awful and terrifying. When you get accepted for an audition, it's a two-day long chorus-line thing. You're supposed to get called back for a second audition, and I didn't. It was fine, I really didn't want to go to college. And because Juilliard felt so small - the idea of being in a classroom with the same group of people, and figuring out how to be a human in that environment, after growing up surrounded by so many different kinds of people and immersed in different cultures through travelling all over... It just felt really wrong to lock myself in one place.

P: They probably realised that the programme wasn't something for you and made room for someone that was.

D: No, I think they were like, you don't stand a chance. But thank you, I appreciate it.

P: Then what came next? You didn't get into Juilliard, and that meant going back to LA and auditioning?

D: I didn't get in and my dad cut me off because I didn't go to college. So, I started auditioning. I think I was 19 when I did The Social Network, and then little jobs and stuff after that...

P: Was it a scary year after high school?

D: For a couple of years it was hard to make money. There were a few times when I'd go to the market and not have money in my bank account or not be able to pay rent, and I'd have to ask my parents for help - I'm very grateful that I had parents that could help me and did help me. But it certainly was not fun. The auditioning process, as you know, is the f*cking worst.

P: Where do you feel like home is now?

D: I feel home is Malibu now. I like it, and I like that you are not so far away. I also think, in my deepest truth, I feel I don't live anywhere. I nest kind of wherever I am. If I'm in a hotel for six weeks, if I'm in a hotel for four days, if I'm in a rental, I'm like, I live here now - this is my home.

P: There was a question earlier about what similarities we share and that is, deeply, a primary one. OK, so you also have a new book club?

D: We started the book club because both my company [TeaTime Pictures] and I find so much inspiration in books. We're now in a position to be introduced to new voices and ideas, as well as get our hands on advanced manuscripts to option for potential film development.

D: It makes sense also, as an actor or storyteller, to look at myths and fairy tales. Jung's interpretation of certain myths and fairy tales is what I'm really into right now. And that is super dorky. We were actually shooting in a bookstore today, and I found this book of poetry that looks interesting, and then I was going to read Miranda July's All Fours. Did you read it?

P: I haven't read it yet, but it's been given to me and I want to read it so bad. Reading is my favourite thing. And I'm not going to lie, I've been neglecting my favourite thing badly for the last, like, 10 years, I think. But I've gotten back into it, into a decent groove, and I'm loving Mark Harris' book Mike Nichols: A Life right now. I find reading to be such a reflection of wellness, whether it's challenging or whether it's dark, or any of those things. OK, who is the biggest Fleetwood Mac fan do you think between us both?

D: Honestly, I'm going to say you. I think we both deeply love, but I think you more.

P: Yeah. I live for it. They're kind of in a religion category, a little bit, for me. We went to see Stevie Nicks together in London. That was so fun. And it was really spontaneous. The stars aligned, and the schedules: I got off work in time and you were in the right place. And it felt like we'd hung out our entire lives together in London. There wasn't anything unfamiliar, even though it was a first in so many ways.

D: I think, given the jobs we have, we are both so used to being nomadic, and I find a lot of peace when we're able to be nomadic together - it's very joyful. We have clicked into place in the last few years and have been a safe and supportive place for each other.

P: We have! Have you got two minutes for one last question? It's a little deep... I've always found hope through stories that help me understand and relate to the world. I wonder if people will like the movie we're in - if it will provide them with a little bit of hope?

D: It would be so lovely if Materialists ignited a sense of hope in people, especially about love. But ultimately, I feel every human being has the option in this life to question and interrogate themselves, and to go inward and ask: 'What is my real desire? What is my real truth? Who am I?' It's not easy to do, and I get why not holding up a mirror to yourself can be a way more enjoyable path. Untangling yourself is uncomfortable and can be quite ugly. But I like that film and art can maybe just whisper a question or an idea to people's hearts.

P: That was beautiful.

D: OK, I've got to go back to set. I'm going to see you in a couple weeks, right? Honestly, I feel like we both need a vacation. We should do that!

'Materialists' is out in cinemas this summer.

This interview appears in ELLE UK's June issue, out now.

HAIR: Mark Townsend at Forward Artists. MAKE-UP: Georgie Eisdell at The Wall Group. NAILS: Mo Qin at The Wall Group. STYLIST'S ASSISTANTS: Abby McDade and Hadya Tuofiq. PRODUCTION DESIGN: Todd Wiggins at MHS Artists. On set production by Hanna Scott Corrie.