{"id":88339,"date":"2024-03-06T16:45:14","date_gmt":"2024-03-06T05:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/?post_type=articles&p=248988"},"modified":"2024-03-06T16:49:08","modified_gmt":"2024-03-06T05:49:08","slug":"madame-web-controversy","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/madame-web-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"Tangled In Controversy: Dakota Johnson Acknowledges \u2018Madame Web\u2019s\u2019 Failure Saying She\u2019ll \u201cNever Do Something Like It Again\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 12: Dakota Johnson arrives at the World Premiere Of Sony Pictures’ “Madame Web” at Regency Village Theatre on February 12, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Steve Granitz\/FilmMagic)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Though Sony\u2019s <\/span>Madame Web<\/span><\/i> wasn\u2019t billed as a comedy, the audible laughs of audience members escaping from theatres should\u2019ve been a telling sign of the superhero film\u2019s demise. To put it bluntly, the Dakota Johnson-helmed action movie<\/a> was a flop. <\/span>Madame Web<\/span><\/i> faced both critical and commercial failure at the hands of \u201cdistractingly disengaged\u201d acting (as per <\/span>The Guardian<\/a>), <\/span><\/i>\u201cunimaginative\u201d directing (as <\/span>Variety <\/span><\/i><\/a>explained) and a script so poorly executed that any apathetic line read became an instant meme. (See: \u201cHe was in the Amazon with my Mom when she was researching spiders right before she died.\u201d)<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
A Rupi Kaur-style poem mocking one of the film’s most memed lines. Credit: Instagram\/@milkanddontcallmehoney<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For those who have managed to escape the discourse\u2014if that\u2019s you, please divulge your secrets to staying offline\u2014Johnson portrays Cassandra \u2018Cassie\u2019 Webb, a millennial paramedic with clairvoyant powers. A third-act twist sets the film up for more sequels as the almost two-hour runtime effectively serves as an origin story for a comic book character no one seemed to care about or ask for. Both the film and the subsequent press tour were fodder for viral moments picked apart for entertainment by netizens. Now, things have gone from bad to worse for an already flailing franchise that barely saw the light of day. <\/span><\/p>\n

An inability to substantially recoup its USD$80 million budget and a parade of negative reviews <\/span>have propelled the film\u2019s leads to detach themselves from the project altogether. Sydney Sweeney<\/a>, who plays a version of Spider-Woman, joked in her <\/span>Saturday Night Live <\/span><\/i><\/a>debut opening monologue<\/a> that audiences hadn\u2019t seen her in Madame Web<\/em> due to the lack of ticket sales, and Johnson herself has just come out to say she\u2019ll \u201cnever do something like it again\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n

But was the box office bomb a failure to launch? Or did compounding factors such as theories about late-stage script changes and allegations that Johnson thought she was signing up for the Marvel Cinematic Universe result in the film being a tangled web of controversy? Ahead, GRAZIA recapitulates the drama behind the production, unweaving the truth behind what went wrong with Madame Web<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 12: (L-R) Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney attend the World Premiere Of Sony Pictures’ Madame Web<\/em>\u00a0at Regency Village Theatre on February 12, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Steven Simione\/WireImage)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Dakota Johnson Acknowledges Film\u2019s Failure, Responding To The Backlash: \u201cI Can\u2019t Say That I Don\u2019t Understand\u201d<\/b><\/h5>\n

In a profile with Bustle<\/em><\/a>, Johnson candidly admitted that she\u2019s across the adverse response, even going so far as to put on the record that she\u2019ll \u201cnever do anything like it again\u201d. \u201cI\u2019m not surprised that this has gone down the way it has,\u201d the 34-year-old claimed. \u201cIt was definitely an experience for me to make that movie,\u201d she added. \u201cI had never done anything like it before. I probably will never do anything like it again because I don\u2019t make sense in that world.\u201d The <\/span>50 Shades Of Grey <\/span><\/i>breakout star also noted that \u201cit\u2019s not nice to be a part of something that\u2019s ripped to shreds\u201d but “I can\u2019t say that I don\u2019t understand\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dakota Johnson Claimed Drastic Changes Were Made To The Script After She Signed On<\/b><\/h5>\n

During a press junket interview, Johnson revealed to a journalist that \u201cdrastic changes\u201d were made to the script, but refused to address what those were. She also noted that the many \u2018variant\u2019 futures the film explored resulted in her getting lost in the script at points during production. \u201cIt added so many different camera set-ups, like triple the amount of work,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd it was very complex, and there are only minor differences between each version of the same scene, so it was like puzzle pieces, and really paying attention to what moment we\u2019re in, and what angle we\u2019re in, and continuity and things like that.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Dakota Johnson Fired Her Agent Immediately After Madame Web\u2019s<\/em> Trailer Dropped<\/b><\/h5>\n

Prior to claiming she\u2019ll never be part of a superhero film again, Johnson parted ways with her agency the day <\/span>Madame Web<\/span><\/i>\u2019s trailer dropped, leading many to speculate if this decision had anything to do with the outcome of the movie.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Watch the trailer for Madame Web below:<\/em><\/p>\n