‘Cha Cha Real Smooth’: Dakota Johnson To Star In New Film From ‘Shithouse’ Director Cooper Raiff

Cooper Raiff might not be a name you’re familiar with, but that could be about to change. Following his award-winning SXSW film Shithouse (which we reviewed here), Raiff is on to better things and working with his biggest star yet, Dakota Johnson, on a new film titled Cha Cha Real Smooth.

Deadline reports Dakota Johnson will star in Cha Cha Real Smooth, which Cooper Raiff will star in, direct, and write the screenplay for.  Both Johnson and Raiff will also produce the film which follows “a bar mitzvah party starter — a guy who gets the young crowd dancing and having fun — while he separately strikes up a friendship with a young mother (Johnson) and her autistic daughter.””

Johnson has taken steps to get as far from the Fifty Shades movies as possible, starring recently in smaller projects like The Hight Note, Our Friend, and The Peanut Butter Falcon. She’ll be seen next in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter, then in Am I Ok? from directors Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne.

Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.