On the set of Fifty Shades Darker, Dakota Johnson needed a little liquid courage.

Johnson admitted to having a “pre-game ritual” with Dornan before starting work on the “Fifty Shades of Grey” sequel while speaking with Entertainment Tonight about the film.

Before the cameras started rolling, the 27-year-old actress, who plays Anastasia Steele, would take a “shot of whiskey (and) mints” while Jamie would “do push-ups”

“Shot of whiskey [and] mints,” actress Melanie Griffith’s daughter shared of her pre-production regimen. “He [Dornan] does pushups and I just lay there and drink whiskey.”

It’s hardly as romantic as drinking wine in bed (or as practical as red wine), but Johnson may have needed the additional kick. In the first film, the two actors struggled to behave naturally steamy. Part of this might be due to the fact that they had only known each other for five weeks before filming, but it’s also possible that Johnson hadn’t yet discovered her whiskey addiction.

Johnson told the magazine that while filming the X-rated sequences wasn’t easy, she felt much more at ease since she and Dornan have “become so close.”

Jamie, who plays Christian Grey, the BDSM-obsessed character, concurred, adding that he and Dakota had barely met in the previous film:

“[Now] it’s been three years, [and] Dakota and I are very close.

“We’ve got a great sort of love and respect for each other.

Credit: Getty Images – FilmMagic

“We’re great friends and I think that makes it easier, you know? So it’s definitely more comfortable.”

“It never gets [easy], but because we’ve become so close it was a lot easier to make [the scenes] special,” Johnson, who shares similar thoughts, added.

Fans panned the first picture because of Dornan and Johnson’s lack of chemistry. “Fifty Shades of Grey” was a big office hit either way, spawning two sequels.

Fifty Shades Darker will be released in theaters on February 10, 2017.

“It never gets [easy], but because we’ve become so close it was a lot easier to make [the scenes] special,” Johnson, who shares similar thoughts, added.

Fans panned the first picture because of Dornan and Johnson’s lack of chemistry. “Fifty Shades of Grey” was a big office hit either way, spawning two sequels.

Fifty Shades Darker will be released in theaters on February 10, 2017.

“We can’t talk about nipple clamps too much,” Marcia remarked in a recent, candid interview.

“I used to send out some naughty little tweets, along the lines of this ‘sweater clasp’ and I was told by Universal that I couldn’t do it any more, but I’ll tell you one anyway.

“I’m a good girl, I fell in line. Because it’s supposed to be more about the ‘romance’.

“Maybe I went too far . . . I don’t know.

“I sent out a picture of a s-x toy and I was like, ‘Dear Christian, thank you so much for that lovely bracelet under the Christmas tree. Perhaps it wasn’t meant for me. Oh well, so pretty.’

“And all the fans would write back, ‘No that wasn’t for you Mama Grey, oh no.’ That was a lot of fun but it was shut down.

“It is a love story after all — I don’t think they want us being too overtly s-xual in interviews.”