Dakota Johnson Completely Understands Why Madame Web Was "Ripped To Shreds"
Dakota Johnson recently did an in-depth interview with Charlotte Owen of Bustle.com, where she finally addressed all of the backlash 'Madame Web' has received over the last couple weeks - and she certainly didn't sound surprised by any of it!
Q: Does it bother you when people write nasty reviews?
A: Unfortunately, I’m not surprised that this has gone down the way it has.
Q: Is there a reason for that?
A: 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. 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 bullshit. Even if films start to be made with AI, humans aren’t going to fucking want to see those.
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. 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.
TL;DR - Dakota is more-or-less saying that once studio execs (aka the absolute morons SONY, who have produced nothing but dogshit in their live-action Spider-Verse) got their hands on this movie, it turned into a completely different picture than the one she signed up for, and didn't respect the audience's intelligence at all. She even compared it to a movie made by AI, which, from the clips I've seen, is very apt.
I'm still wondering if Dakota Johnson thought she was signing up for the MCU when she joined the cast of Madame Web. Sydney Sweeney might've as well!
Johnson admitted to asking Elizabeth Olsen for advice "in this world" after signing on, and fired her talent agency right after the first trailer for the movie dropped. Meanwhile, Sydney Sweeney talked about how much she loved watching the 'Avengers' movies with her family growing up and had a couple lines about joining "that" universe that just didn't line up in promotion for Madame Web. Sure, they could just be talking about superhero movies in a broad sense, but I think there's a chance Sony lied to them and promised a crossover with Tom Holland's Spider-Man at some point. Either that or their agents just had no idea what they were getting their clients into. There's no other explanation (aside from a MASSIVE bag) that makes sense.
Regardless, they don't seem too distraught about it - the checks have cleared and they're having fun dumping all over that piece of trash now....
I just wouldn't expect a sequel any time soon.