Sydney Sweeney Says ‘Madame Web’ Was a “Building Block” for Relationship With Sony

Sydney Sweeney has no regrets about Madame Web and sees the film as a catalyst for other projects.

In an interview with GQ U.K. published Monday, the actress reflected on how the franchise opened the door for career opportunities such as Anyone But You and Barbarella.

“To me that film was a building block. It’s what allowed me to build a relationship with Sony. Without doing Madame Web I wouldn’t have a relationship with the decision-makers over there,” she said. “Everything in my career I do not just for that story, but strategic business decisions. Because I did that, I was able to sell Anyone But You. I was able to get Barbarella.”

The Sony-Marvel film, which Sweeney starred in alongside Dakota Johnson, flopped at the box office and was bashed by critics and fans as an “embarrassing mess.” The film also received the lowest average Rotten Tomatoes score (13 percent) of any major superhero film in nearly a decade.

Despite the criticism, Sweeney is unfazed.

“The movie is such a large movie with so many people involved,” she explained. “I was just hired as an actor and happy to bring to life a character that my little cousins are excited about. There’s no outcome I can control on a film like that, especially when I’m not a producer. You sign up for whatever happens and you take the ride.”

Sweeney shared similar comments last week with the Los Angeles Times.

Sweeney also seemed to poke fun at the film’s reception while hosting NBC’s Saturday Night Live, joking in her monologue, “You have seen me in Anyone but You and Euphoria. You definitely did not see me in Madame Web.”

For the first six days in North America, the domestic box office of Madame Web was just $26.2 million after opening mid-week on Valentine’s Day, marking one of the lowest starts in Hollywood history for a film based on a Marvel character. 

Johnson has also spoken out about the film’s reception telling Bustle, “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.”