Dakota Johnson 'Will Never Do Anything' Like Madame Web Again
Hey, remember "Madame Web"? The latest attempt from Sony to cash in on all-things-Spider-Man opened a few weeks ago — and promptly flopped at the box office. Reviews weren't kind, either (although ours was a little more positive than others — you can read it here). In fact, "Madame Web" seemed doomed from the start. The only trailer for the film was met with ridicule, and the press tour leading up to release featured star Dakota Johnson seemingly distancing herself from the picture before anyone even had a chance to see it. Now, in the wake of the film's failure, Johnson is opening up about the experience, and her comments are well-said and eye-opening.
Speaking with Bustle, Johnson touched on the sorry state of making movies like "Madame Web" today. Specifically, she derided the fact that these superhero flicks are often made by committee rather than via artistic vision. "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," Johnson said. She added:
"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*cking want to see those."
'I don't make sense in that world'
Johnson has a point. "Madame Web" doesn't feel like a movie with a singular vision — it feels like something studio execs dreamed up with cartoon dollar signs in their eyes. "It's set in the same world as Spider-Man!" they probably thought. "What could go wrong?" What went wrong was the fact that audiences simply didn't care about Madame Web. People love Spider-Man, and people also love Spider-Man character Venom, which is why Sony's "Venom" movies did well at the box office. But people don't give a damn about second-tier Marvel characters like Morbius and Madame Web. That's not to say lesser-known characters can't inspire audiences to turn out. But you have to give viewers a reason to care; you have to give them something good.
In any case, Johnson is pretty sure her superhero movie days are over. As she told Bustle:
"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. But 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? 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."
And there you have it. Let us never speak of "Madame Web" again.