“Here’s your role, play the role. If you’re expecting this to be some kind of life-changing event, I just think you’re here for the wrong reasons,” Russell Crowe’s take on Dakota Johnson’s blame.
Russell Crowe Defends Superhero Genre Against Dakota Johnson’s Criticism
In a recent interview with GQ UK, Russell Crowe defended the superhero genre after Dakota Johnson criticized her flop movie “Madame Web,” calling it a project “made by committees” with no artistic value.
Crowe’s response was direct: “You’re telling me you signed up for a Marvel movie, and some f–king universe for cartoon characters… and you didn’t get enough pathos? Not quite sure how I can make this better for you. It’s a gigantic machine, and they make movies at a certain size.”
Crowe, who has experience with superhero films, having starred in DC’s “Man of Steel” and Marvel’s “Thor: Love and Thunder,” also pointed out that he will appear in the upcoming Sony and Marvel movie “Kraven the Hunter,” set in the same universe as “Madame Web.”
He emphasized that superhero films are jobs where actors need to play their roles without expecting a life-changing event. “These are jobs,” Crowe said.
“Here’s your role, play the role. If you’re expecting this to be some kind of life-changing event, I just think you’re here for the wrong reasons.”
Dakota Johnson’s Critique and Fan Thoughts On Johnson’s Performance
While acknowledging that superhero movies can be challenging and sometimes involve convincing oneself of more than just the character’s internal machinations, Crowe made it clear that he didn’t have a bad experience in such projects.
“But for anything to be… and you can’t make this a direct comment on her because I don’t know her and I don’t know what she went through, and the fact that you can have a s**t experience on a film… Yeah, you can,” he said.
“But is that the Marvel process? I’m not sure you can say that. I haven’t had a bad experience.”
Dakota Johnson, who starred in “Madame Web” alongside Sydney Sweeney, Emma Roberts, and Adam Scott, criticized the movie in an interview with Bustle.
She blamed Sony and Marvel for how the film was produced, saying, “It’s so hard to get movies made, and in these big movies that get made… decisions are being made by committees, and art does not do well when it’s made by committee.”
She added, “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,” she continued.
In “Madame Web,” Johnson plays Cassandra “Cassie” Webb/Madame Web, a clairvoyant paramedic linked to Spider-Man via Benjamin “Ben” Parker, played by Adam Scott.
Despite the star-studded cast, the movie was universally panned by critics and failed at the box office, leading Johnson to express her disappointment and vow never to do anything like it again.
The film’s budget was $100 million, but it only managed to break even, unlike Crowe’s “Thor: Love and Thunder,” which had a $250 million budget and grossed $760.9 million.
Fans were vocal about the film’s shortcomings. One commented, “I’ve never been so tempted to take out my phone and use my notes app just for the sheer amount of terrible lines. Like holy shit, Webb and the villain guy’s ADR were in a contest to see who could read their lines worse.”
Another added, “I honestly think Dakota Johnson was reading her lines poorly on purpose. I don’t know how else to explain the way she says literally every line after she goes blind.”
So, what is your take on the movie in general and Johnson’s actioning? Let us know in the comment section!