Madame Web star Dakota Johnson has revealed that the movie's script underwent significant changes after she signed on to play Cassandra Webb.
The actress told The Wrap that the early version of the Madame Web script was very different to the story that made it to screen, though she didn't offer any specifics about the adjustments the writers decided to make. "There were drastic changes," Johnson told the outlet. "And I can't even tell you what they were."
Johnson stars in the Spider-Man spin-off as Cassandra Webb, a young paramedic who develops clairvoyant abilities. The actress explained that this aspect of her character made the production quite challenging, as they had to shoot some scenes multiple times with slight tweaks to create different visions of the future.
"It added so many different camera set-ups, like triple the amount of work," she explained. "It was very complex, and there's only like minor differences between each version of the same scene, so it was like puzzle pieces, and really paying attention to what moment we're in, and what angle we're in, and continuity and things like that."
Johnson also worried that certain aspects of the movie were not "going to be good at all." She previously revealed that she had never worked with blue screens before Madame Web, so filming those scenes felt "absolutely psychotic" and made her question her performance, though she trusted SJ Clarkson wouldn't steer her wrong.
"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 told Entertainment Weekly of her experience on set. "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 [director SJ Clarkson]. She works so hard, and she has not taken her eyes off this movie since we started."
Madame Web is now playing in theaters, but Sony's latest Spider-Man Universe release has faced some major criticism. IGN called the female-led Marvel movie "mediocre," noting that it "has the makings of an interesting superhero psychological thriller" but "fails the talent and the future of its onscreen Spider-Women."
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X/Twitter @AdeleAnkers.
