Dakota Johnson has not been as courteous in talking about Madame Web, a film considered a box office disaster which earned less than $100 million globally, which is very low compared to any Marvel or DC movie for instance. While talking to Bustle, she clearly appeared shocked by the negative reviews of the film and remarked that in today’s era, films are not made by a director and his team but by ‘power cliques and computers’.
Johnson voiced her disapproval of the industry’s precedence over monetary gain and power as opposed to art: her frustration being that movies, and many big budget ones especially, are being made by conglomerates rather than individuals with an artistic perspective. She did however agree that the public is not dumb and knows when a film is bad, even if it has been made with great technology or ‘to the latest algorithm’.
Within the context of her work on Madame Web, Johnson indicated that it was rather disappointing to see how the film changed during the course of the production. So, she joined a world that has now turned out to be quite different from what she had initially envisioned and is now clear to her that she is not meant for that world. Though Johnson found it rewarding in some ways, being a part of a project that was “disfigurated” because of bad reviews was not the most enjoyable of experiences for her, but neither does she say that she did not appreciate what the result was.
Ending on an independent note with regard to the production company she created, “In a movie like that, I have no say over anything”, is how she sounded which indicates that she is looking forward to more investment in the artistic aspects of her projects. In this regard, Johnson’s remarks are particularly informative, providing a straightforward perspective on how dramatic jumps can be felt in the self-dramaturgy of the made and the selvedge of self with all the accompanying pressures and irritations of empathy offered by the modern cinema industry in case of mass-scale cinema like, Madame Web.