Dakota Johnson on ‘Madame Web’ Blowback: “I’ll Never Do Anything Like It Again”

James Hibberd
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Dakota Johnson is opening up about Madame Web.

The actress detailed her feelings about the Sony-Marvel film flopping at the box office and getting bashed by critics and fans as one of the worst modern superhero films ever made.

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As she’s previously hinted during the movie’s publicity tour, Johnson said the project’s script about a paramedic with psychic powers was radically changed from what she originally read. But in retrospect, Johnson also felt like she perhaps isn’t the right choice for the comic book movie world (even though some critics thought her line readings in the film were the best thing about the movie).

“It was definitely an experience for me to make that movie,” Johnson 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.

“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,” 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 bullshit. Even if films start to be made with AI, humans aren’t going to fucking want to see those.”

Johnson also joked about the stories that would come out after her Bustle interview. “Like, ‘Dakota Johnson Breaks Her Silence On Madame Web’s Fucking Box Office Failure,’” the actress said with a laugh. “It’s like, ‘No, I’m not breaking any silence. I’m just talking.’” (Stories like this one — perhaps Johnson is clairvoyant, after all?).

Over the weekend, Johnson’s co-star Sydney Sweeney likewise commented about the film’s reaction while hosting NBC’s Saturday Night Live, quipping in her monologue, “You have seen me in Anyone but You and Euphoria. You definitely did not see me in Madame Web.”

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