Dakota Johnson Says She’ll ‘Never Do Anything Like’ ‘Madame Web’ Again

Dakota Johnson won’t be doing “anything like” Madame Web ever again. The actress, who plays Cassandra Webb in the widely-criticized Sony-Marvel box office flop, hasn’t hidden her feelings about starring in the film that many critics are calling one of the worst superhero films in recent memory. In a March 5 profile for Bustle, however, she speaks more candidly than ever about her experience being a part of a project that’s “ripped to shreds.”

Johnson had previously said the original script she read for Madame Web was changed dramatically before the project went into production, but she also now thinks that she was not a good choice for a comic book movie. “It was definitely an experience for me to make that movie,” Johnson told the outlet. “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,” the Fifty Shades of Grey actress continued, noting how the process of modern movie-making doesn’t always lead to a product to which audiences will respond.

“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 explained. “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 bulls—. Even if films start to be made with AI, humans aren’t going to f—ing want to see those.”

Johnson isn’t the only Madame Web star to express their feelings about the overall reaction to the film. Sydney Sweeney joked about the film’s critical response while hosting Saturday Night Live this week, joking during her monologue, “You have seen me in Anyone but You and Euphoria. You definitely did not see me in Madame Web.”