Los Angeles, Jan 20 (IANS): 'Fifty Shades' star Dakota Johnson started off the 2023 Sundance Film Festival with a laugh in her role as a presenter at the inaugural 'A Taste of Sundance' dinner.

The actress joked that she was offered the role of the peach in Luca Guadagnino's Oscar-winning indie 'Call Me by Your Name', but she had to turn it down due to scheduling conflicts, reports 'Variety'.

"Thank god, though," she said. "I would have been another woman that Armie Hammer would have tried to eat."

Johnson praised Guadagnino as a lover of cinema (and Prada) as she presented him with the international icon award. She starred in his remake of "Suspiria," but her joke about Hammer made the room gasp and giggle.

As per 'Variety', Hammer, who starred alongside Timothee Chalamet in 'Call Me by Your Name', has been accused of having cannibalistic fetishes, sexual assault and abusive behaviour by extramarital partners. Hammer has denied the claims.

In the film, Hammer plays the love interest of Chalamet, whose character Elio performs a sexual act on a piece of fruit, which Hammer eventually discovers.

"It's been five years since that film premiered here, and Luca hasn't stopped taking us to exciting places," Johnson said, quoted by 'Variety' referring to Guadagnino's 2022 film 'Bones and All', a cannibalism romance drama also starring Chalamet. "Who knew cannibalism was so popular?" she joked.