Posted in: Movies, Sony | Tagged: dakota johnson, Madame Web, marvel, sj clarkson, sony

Madame Web: Dakota Johnson Talks About Her Trust in S.J. Clarkson

Madame Web star Dakota Johnson says she hasn't done much blue acting in front of a blue screen, so she had to have a lot of confidence in director SJ Clarkson.

These days, it doesn't feel so out of pocket for studios to announce that they have tapped someone you never would have expected for the next superhero movie. This has been going on for as long as the genre has existed, but now that more people are making these movies more often, people notice it. Even then, people were a little confused when Dakota Johnson joined the cast of Madame Web, but no one was more worried about the experience than Johnson. While she has been in the industry for a while now, she admits that she hasn't done a lot of acting in front of a blue screen, and this change in dynamics required a lot of trust in director SJ Clarkson, as Johnson explained to Entertainment Weekly in an interview.

"I trusted her so much," Johnson says. "I've never really done a movie where you are on a blue screen, and there's fake explosions going off, and someone's going, 'Explosion!' and you act like there's an explosion. That, to me, was absolutely psychotic. I was like, 'I don't know if this is going to be good at all! I hope that I did an okay job!' But I trusted her. She works so hard, and she has not taken her eyes off this movie since we started."

That's not to say that everything in Madame Web will be special effects. While she did have to learn how to act in front of the blue screen and react to things that would be added later, there was also some practical stunt work that was a first that she really enjoyed. Johnson explained that she got to do a day of stunt driving work and "I'm really good at it, it seems! I mean, I can do some really wild things with a car. I drove an ambulance. I drove a taxicab. I drove everything in the movie — except for flying through the air and out of a building. But other than that, I'm like, 'Watch out, Tom Cruise.'"

However, that didn't mean that she could do all of the stunt driving and detailed a shot where a car had to drive into a diner that she could not take part in. "I didn't get to actually drive it into the diner, which is really a bummer," she says sadly. "I really wanted to, but I guess they don't want to put their lead actor in actual danger unless you're Tom Cruise. But I'm getting there! I'm working on it." I mean, she isn't wrong about the Cruise thing, but it's good to hear that there will be some practical work on Madame Web, and every actor should learn how to do some work with a blue screen. It's a massive part of the filmmaking process for projects of many different sizes now, so if this film does nothing else, Johnson will walk away with that new skill and some stunt driving work. A win is a win.

Madame Web: Summary, Cast List, Release Date

"Meanwhile, in another universe…" In a switch from the typical genre, Madame Web tells the standalone origin story of one of Marvel publishing's most enigmatic heroines. The suspense-driven thriller stars Dakota Johnson as Cassandra Webb, a paramedic in Manhattan who may have clairvoyant abilities. Forced to confront revelations about her past, she forges a relationship with three young women destined for powerful futures…if they can all survive a deadly present.

Madame Web, directed by SJ Clarkson, stars Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O'Connor, Isabela Merced, Tahar Rahim, Mike Epps, Emma Roberts, and Adam Scott. It will be released on February 14, 2024.

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