Sydney Sweeney says starring in “Madame Web” helped her make “Anyone But You”: 'That film was a building block’

"Everything in my career I do not just for that story, but strategic business decisions."

Sydney Sweeney isn’t too torn up about Madame Web flopping at the box office because her investment in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe has already paid off.

During a recent chat with GQ UK, the actress admitted that the comic book movie — which has been panned by critics and mercilessly memed online — was a purposeful business decision that helped her forge crucial relationships at the studio.

“To me that film was a building block,” Sweeney said of the superhero flick. “It’s what allowed me to build a relationship with Sony. Without doing Madame Web I wouldn’t have a relationship with the decision-makers over there.”

She went on to say that “story” isn’t the deciding factor when it comes to choosing scripts; her choices are also based on “strategic business decisions.” In the case of Madame Web, she explained, “Because I did that, I was able to sell Anyone But You. I was able to get Barbarella.”

As for her response to the film’s negative reception, Sweeney said, “I was just hired as an actor and happy to bring to life a character that my little cousins are excited about. There’s no outcome I can control on a film like that, especially when I’m not a producer. You sign up for whatever happens and you take the ride.”

Sweeney appeared in the film as Julia Cornwall, a Spider-Woman variation who is one of the three teen girls that Dakota Johnson’s Madame Web must protect from a mysterious enemy determined to end their timelines before they can suit up as heroes. While Johnson has made it clear that she’s unlikely to reprise her role as Cassie Webb, Sweeney is leaving the door open: “I think that if the story is right and you have the right team, I would love to,” she said.

While Sweeney was not a producer on the Spider-Man spinoff, she — and her production company Fifty-Fifty Films — were part of the effort to get Anyone But You to screens, where the film was such a rousing success (earning over $200 million globally) that she and co-star Glen Powell are already discussing the possibility of a sequel.

“We've been tossing around a bunch of different ideas,” Sweeney said. “We just want to make sure that whatever we do gives the audience what they want and at the same time is new and exciting for us.”

In the meantime, Sweeney is approaching the release of her nun-based horror film Immaculate, and set to executive produce a new Barbarella film for Sony Pictures, where she will also star as the titular space adventurer.

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Related content:

• How Anyone but You navigated shark-infested waters and rom-com tropes

• Sydney Sweeney reveals she was bitten by ‘trained’ spider on movie set: ‘I thought I was gonna die’

• Watch Dakota Johnson get chased by a murderous Spider-Man in new Madame Web trailer
  

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