Sydney Sweeney's star is on the rise, but Madame Web crashing and burning when it was released in theaters exactly a month ago will have done little to help her.
While she was a highlight in the Marvel movie as Julia Cornwall/Spider-Woman, starring in a comic book adaptation which bombs that badly with critics and filmgoers isn't good. Luckily for Sweeney, she's already bounced back with a hit hosting gig on Saturday Night Live and the positive buzz surrounding her upcoming horror movie Immaculate (which she stars in and produces).
Talking to the Los Angeles Times about that project, Sweeney was asked about the harsh response Madame Web has received since opening. To that, she replied, "I was just hired as an actress in it, so I was just along for the ride for whatever was going to happen."
Something tells us the actress doesn't want to talk about it!
Sweeney was passionate about Madame Web in the build-up to its release and even pushed to have Spider-Woman pull off comic-accurate poses in the movie; it's just a shame it never really gave her a chance to spend some time in the costume and show what she could do as a bona fide superhero.
Earlier this month, Dakota Johnson talked in greater deal about the movie's failings:
"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. 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 bullsh*t. Even if films start to be made with AI, humans aren’t going to f*cking want to see those."
"But it was definitely an experience for me to make that movie. 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."
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.
The movie stars Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O’Connor, Isabela Merced, Tahar Rahim, Mike Epps, Emma Roberts, and Adam Scott.
Madame Web is now playing in theaters worldwide.