Just like her prophetic Marvel character, Dakota Johnson may have seen the backlash to Madame Web coming.
“Unfortunately, I’m not surprised that this has gone down the way it has,” the actress admits in a new interview with Bustle. “But it was definitely an experience for me to make that movie. I had never done anything like it before. I probably will never do anything like it again, because I don’t make sense in that world. And I know that now.”
The S.J. Clarkson-directed film — released last month — is part of the Sony Spider-Man universe, which also includes Tom Holland’s Spider-Man trilogy and the Venom films — however, it avoided any possible canon collisions with those character by being set in 2003. As of early March, Madame Web had a 12% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 57% Audience Score.
“Sometimes in this industry, you sign on to something, and it’s one thing and then as you’re making it, it becomes a completely different thing, and you’re like, wait, what?” Johnson shares of her experience. “But it was a real learning experience, and of course it’s not nice to be a part of something that’s ripped to shreds, but I can’t say that I don’t understand.”
“It’s so hard to get movies made, and in these big movies that get made — and it’s even starting to happen with the little ones, which is what’s really freaking me out — decisions are being made by committees, and art does not do well when it’s made by committee,” the actress continues. “Films are made by a filmmaker and a team of artists around them. You cannot make art based on numbers and algorithms. My feeling has been for a long time that audiences are extremely smart, and executives have started to believe that they’re not. Audiences will always be able to sniff out bullsh*t. Even if films start to be made with AI, humans aren’t going to f**king want to see those.”
Johnson’s character in Madame Web — a paramedic named Cassie Webb, who receives psychic powers following a near-death experience — also has some awkward moments on her own journey to becoming the powerful figure she is in the Marvel comic canon. Prior to the film’s release, the actress explained to 360aproko that she enjoyed playing a female character that maybe didn’t fit into a traditional box.
“I think that that’s really important, because I don’t know that all women feel comfortable in the kind of typical, stereotypical, female environment of like, dresses and heels and babies and marriage — I don’t think that everyone feels the same way about those things,” she noted. “For Cassie to be uncomfortable and really trying to be respectful but failing I think is a relatable situation.”
The character also becomes a mentor to three young women who embody different versions of Spider-Woman, played by Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced and Celeste O’Connor — and team up to help her fight a mysterious villain, Ezekiel Sims (Tahir Rahim), who also wears a black Spider-Man-style suit.
“I adore them and I think they’re so talented,” Johnson said of her castmates, adding with a laugh, “It was so fun to have them around — the three of them really bonded, and then there was me.”
Madame Web is in theaters now.
