Sydney Sweeney calls Madame Web role ‘strategic’ after starring in critically panned movie

Sweeney stars alongside Dakota Johnson in Sony’s blockbuster movie

Sydney Sweeney has admitted that featuring in Sony’s critically panned superhero blockbuster, Madame Web, was more of a “strategic business decision”.

The recently released movie, which was branded an “embarrassing mess” in early reviews, stars Dakota Johnson as clairvoyant superhero Cassandra Web, alongside Sweeney, who portrays Julia Carpenter, the character who eventually becomes Marvel’s second Spider-Woman.

When asked if she had any inklings that the film would be so poorly received, the 26-year-old Euphoria actor told British GQ: “No, I mean, there’s definitely a different formula when you’re making a film like that, that was very different from what I’m used to.

“The movie is such a large movie with so many people involved,” Sweeney said. “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.”

Describing the film as a “building block” that “allowed me to build a relationship with Sony”, she added: “Without doing Madame Web I wouldn’t have a relationship with the decision-makers over there.

“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.”

Sweeney’s latest romcom Anyone But You, directed by Will Gluck (Easy A), was released in cinemas in December and became a box-office phenom, grossing $212m (£167.8m) at the global box office.

Sydney Sweeney in ‘Madame Web’ (© 2023 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved. **ALL IMAGES ARE PROPERTY OF SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT INC. FOR PROMOTIONAL USE ONLY. SALE, DUPLICATION OR TRANSFER OF THIS MATERIAL IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.**)

The movie follows Bea (Sweeney) and Ben (Glen Powell), two people who hate each other but can’t escape one another while on holiday in Sydney, Australia.

Meanwhile, it was announced in October 2022 that the White Lotus alum had been cast as Barbarella in Sony’s forthcoming Barbarella remake.

Sweeney shared the news on Instagram at the time, writing: “Time to save the universe.”

She will take on the role originated and made famous by Jane Fonda in the camp 1968 sci-fi classic.

Fonda reacted to Sweeney’s casting in January 2023, admitting that she was “worried” about the remake.

“I try not to [think about it],” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “Because I worry about what it’s going to be. I had an idea of how to do it that [original producer] Dino De Laurentiis, when he was still alive, wouldn’t listen to. But it could have been a truly feminist movie.”

Fonda’s portrayal of Barbarella, the space adventurer who’s sent on a mission to retrieve a scientist in the erotic sci-fi film, cemented her status as a Hollywood sex symbol.