When Dakota Johnson had to learn a Boston accent for her role as notorious gangster James “Whitey” Bulger’s girlfriend Lindsey Cyr in Black Mass, she knew exactly what she had to do: get in with the locals.
“I’d listen to people. I have a thing about listening and eavesdropping on people,” Johnson told PEOPLE on Tuesday evening at the Boston premiere of the film. “So I d just listen to people in restaurants. And I worked with a dialect coach a bit and just did my best to practice.”
Johnson, clad in a white strapless tea-length gown and sporting deep red lipstick, said working with the film s star Johnny Depp was “kind of the best thing in the world.”
“He was giving me so much to work with,” said Johnson. “Even though the subject matter was not the best thing in the world. I think it was just being around someone as talented as he is. It was a beautiful experience to be able to work alongside someone like that. It was the best.”
Depp, clad in a cantaloupe-colored sport jacket and sporting a red fake tooth, breezed by the masses of press but made sure to pose for a few shots with his new wife, Amber Heard, who looked stunning in a black jacket and cropped black pants, with her long blond hair cascading down her back. The couple recently showed their passion for each other at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Heard, 29, and Depp, 52, had a great time getting to know Boston while Johnny shot the film during the summer of 2014. Black Mass tells the story of the tumultuous South Boston that Bulger controlled during the ’70s and ’80s. Johnny and Amber hit up local favorites like the Brattle Book Shop for poetry and art books, and classic restaurants like Regina Pizzeria and Roy’s Sub Shop.
