By Sony Pictures’ Universe of Marvel Characters title “Madame Web” came and went last month like an unpleasant odor.
The film has been both a major critical and commercial failure, and its star Dakota Johnson tells Bustle she has zero plans to return to the superhero space any time soon.
Johnson says: “I probably will never do anything like it again, because I don’t make sense in that world. And I know that now.”
Johnson has previously been fairly candid in her thoughts about making the movie, calling blue screen filming an “absolutely psychotic” experience but making it clear she had great faith in her director S.J. Clarkson.
However, now that it’s out, she’s not afraid to discuss the issues with the overall project – most of which seem to come down to studio interference:
“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?”. [It’s] a real learning experience… 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.”
There’s certainly been no shortage of films in the genre that have been torn apart by committee. Johnson adds she thinks the pushback against such films will only increase in the future:
“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—ing want to see those.”
“Madame Web” opened in cinemas on February 14th and to date grossed just over $91 million worldwide.
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