Deadline via Getty Images
Dakota Johnson recently told the Los Angeles Times on her “Materialists” press tour that “Madame Web” flopping with critics and audiences wasn’t her fault. The Sony-backed comic book movie was a notorious punching bag in winter 2024, earning a dismal $43 million at the domestic box office and an 11% on Rotten Tomatoes. Johnson headlined the film as Cassandra Webb, a paramedic who gains the ability to see the future after a near-death experience.
“It wasn’t my fault,” Johnson said about the movie. “There’s this thing that happens now where a lot of creative decisions are made by committee. Or made by people who don’t have a creative bone in their body. And it’s really hard to make art that way. Or to make something entertaining that way. And I think unfortunately with ‘Madame Web,’ it started out as something and turned into something else. And I was just sort of along for the ride at that point. But that happens. Bigger-budget movies fail all the time.”
Not that Johnson feels burned by the movie’s reception. As she explained: “I don’t have a Band-Aid over it. There’s no part of me that’s like, ‘Oh, I’ll never do that again’ to anything. I’ve done even tiny movies that didn’t do well. Who cares?”
The actor told Bustle last year a few weeks after “Madame Web” nosedived in theaters that “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.”
Johnson is currently out on a press tour for “Materialists,” the new A24 film from “Past Lives” Oscar nominee Celine Song. Johnson stars opposite Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans in the movie, which both embraces and subverts the romantic-comedy genre. It’s Johnson’s first rom-com since 2016’s “How to Be Single,” although that’s not for lack of trying.
“They’re not good,” Johnson said about all the rom-com scripts that came her way over the years. “Sorry. I think a lot of what I read these days is void of soul and heart. And Celine is all soul and heart. I really love a rom-com if it feels like I can connect to the people in it. And I think I’ve found it hard to connect to the people in some of the ones that I’ve been offered.”
“Materialists” felt different for Johnson because of “the complexities of all of the characters. The paradox. Everyone being confused about what the fuck they’re supposed to do with their hearts. And what’s the right move? I found that very honest and I found it just so relatable.”
“Materialists” opens in theaters June 10 from A24. Head over to the Los Angeles Times’ website to read more from Johnson’s latest interview.
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