Dakota Johnson Says “Drastic Changes” Were Made to ‘Madame Web’

James Hibberd
·2 min read
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Madame Web star Dakota Johnson says the film’s script underwent some “drastic changes” after she signed on to the project.

The Sony-Marvel film has been savaged by critics as one of the worst superhero movies of the modern era.

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But Johnson — who plays a New York paramedic who develops psychic visions — says the script she originally saw was very different than what was shot and released.

“There were drastic changes” made to the script she told The Wrap with a laugh. “And I can’t even tell you what they were.”

It’s a revelation that suggests one of two things: The Madame Web script — by director S.J. Clarkson along with Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless and Claire Parker — was weakened as it got closer to shooting by creatives second guessing the original work. Or, heaven help us, the superhero film was somehow greenlit by a major studio with an even worse script than the one currently being ridiculed.

Previously, Johnson said she worried certain aspects for the film were not “going to be good at all.”

“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,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “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 [Clarkson]. She works so hard, and she has not taken her eyes off this movie since we started.”

Johnson’s performance, at least, has largely avoided criticism, with reviewers instead focusing on the film’s script, special effects and direction.

Madame Web currently has just a 17 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. The film opens today with box office tracking estimating a $25 million six-day weekend — which is about half of what the MCU bomb The Marvels brought in for its opening haul two months ago. Madame Web reportedly cost $80 million to produce.

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