Melanie Griffith and Dakota Johnson on the red carpet at Splitsville

There was a brief hush on the rope line before the flashes started. seeing Melanie Griffith and Dakota Johnson on the red carpet together is rare, which is why their appearance at the Los Angeles premiere of Splitsville on 19 August felt warmer than the usual parade. Griffith, 68, kept it crisp in a white double-breasted blazer with wide-leg trousers and low-key trainers; Johnson, 35, chose a metallic strapless Gucci gown, hair sleek and straight, an arm lightly linked with her mother’s. It was unshowy, affectionate and over in seconds, the kind of image premieres are made for.

Mother and daughter have form, of course, but they tend to ration these moments. Their last easy red-carpet pose together was at a small screening of Slip in 2023, a reminder that, for all the lineage, they prefer to let the work speak. Johnson’s career has been a steady build since her breakthrough in Fifty Shades of Grey (2015), followed by directors who value precision over noise – Luca Guadagnino’s A Bigger Splash, and a bold turn in Suspiria. This year’s Madame Web didn’t win critics, but it did little to dim the curiosity around what she does next.

Griffith’s own highlights still carry weight. She was Oscar-nominated for Working Girl (1988) and is forever linked with the nervy charm of Something Wild (1986) and the De Palma thriller Body Double (1984). If you’re in the mood to wander, a curated look at red-carpet ritual will take you behind the choreography of a premiere, and a quietly fascinating timeline of couture techniques explains why gowns like Johnson’s hold their poise under flashbulbs.

The family story is part of the magnetism. Johnson is the daughter of Don Johnson and granddaughter of Tippi Hedren; Griffith’s family also includes Alexander Bauer (with Steven Bauer) and Stella Banderas (with Antonio Banderas). Johnson has been frank about the early years before her break, there were months, she has said, when she couldn’t cover rent and was grateful for parental help, and equally clear that her parents warned her to hang on to a normal childhood for as long as possible. That’s partly why a quiet, shared step-and-repeat like this lands: it reads as family first, industry second.

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[Image Credit | Hello Magazine]

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