Madame Web’s Dakota Johnson recalls the advice she received from Marvel Studios’ WandaVision star Elizabeth Olsen in preparation for the Sony’s Spider-Man Universe spin-off.
“When I got the Madame Web role, I ran into Lizzie Olsen in the hotel lobby and spoke to her about it for a bit, and that was helpful,” Johnson said in an interview with L’Officiel USA. “She said she had a great time and . . . seemed very relaxed about it, so that was comforting.”
Johnson plays a modernized version of Cassandra Webb/Madame Web, based on the Marvel Comics character featured prominently in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man during the ’80s. Much like Olsen’s work as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Johnson had to perform a majority of Madam Web’s big set pieces in front of a blue screen. Johnson shared mixed feelings about the process.
“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,” Johnson said in an interview with 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.”
What is Madame Web about?
Directed by S.J. Clarkson (Netflix’s Jessica Jones), the official synopsis for Madame Web reads as follows: “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 arrives in theaters on February 14.
