Dakota Johnson recently opened up about her experience filming “Peanut Butter Falcon” with co-star Shia LaBeouf, who was arrested for disorderly conduct, public intoxication and obstruction of justice while filming. Johnson, 30, also shared how “protective” she felt of the actor, 33, and co-star Zac Gottsagen.
“I felt very protective of him and I felt very like, that’s a really terrifying and difficult journey for somebody to experience. And I felt really aware of that,” Johnson said of the 2017 arrest during a visit to “Ellen.” “We were there to make this movie and Zack is really a phenomenal human being and … you feel very awake to the truth of life and humanity and love and people and real connections when you’re with him.”
LaBeouf and Gottsagen, an actor with Down syndrome, grew very close during production of the film, with the LaBeouf calling his former co-star a large motivation for him to maintain sobriety.
“I think that that [arrest] was just a kind of a very important moment for Shia,” Johnson continued. “I don’t condemn people for their mistakes. I want them to get through it, so that’s what I tried to do.”
LaBeouf publicly apologized for the incident on Twitter at the time and included a re-enactment of the arrest in his 2019 semi-autobiographical film, “Honey Boy.”