Dakota Johnson reflects on Madame Web criticism: 'I understand the backlash'

Dakota Johnson has responded to the backlash surrounding her recent film, Madame Web. 

The Spider-Man-adjacent superhero flick, featuring Johnson as New York City paramedic Cassandra Webb endowed with the power to foresee the future, failed to meet expectations at the box office and garnered unfavorable critiques. 

Speaking with Bustle in a recent interview, the actress confessed that the end product differed significantly from her initial expectations upon signing onto the project.

Dakota admitted that the film diverged from her expectations, stating, "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."

"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?" she remarked. 

"It’s so hard to get movies made," Johnson explained, noting the impact of executive decisions on artistic outcomes. 

She stressed the importance of preserving artistic integrity, asserting, "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 bulls---," she concluded.