‘Madame Web’ star Dakota Johnson teases different kind of Marvel movie

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Dakota Johnson might have grown up during the Golden Age of superhero movies.

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But it doesn’t mean that while she was padding her acting resume hopping between buzzed-about indies (The Peanut Butter Falcon), edgy dramas (Suspiria), laugh-out-loud comedies (How to Be Single), a Jane Austen revamp (Persuasion) and the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise that she was dreaming of starring in a comic book movie.

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“I never thought I’d be a part of it,” Johnson, 34, says over Zoom, speaking to Postmedia.

Johnson —  who’s the daughter of actors Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson — was intrigued about suiting up to join the world of superheroes after reading the script for Madame Web, a Spider-Man spinoff that hits theatres today.

“I was really drawn to the idea of a young woman having a super power that was her mind. To me, that was enticing and something I felt I haven’t seen in the superhero world before,” she says. “I never thought I’d be a part of this world, but that made me feel like I could … it was an entry point that I felt like I understood.”

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Part of Sony’s expanding Marvel universe, which in addition to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man includes Tom Hardy’s Venom, Jared Leto’s Morbius and Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s soon-to-be released Kraven the Hunter, the film follows a clairvoyant paramedic named Cassandra Webb (Johnson) who is forced to protect a trio of young women (played by Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O’Connor and Isabela Merced) from a mysterious villain named Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim) with links to her past.

“It’s a standalone movie,” Johnson emphasizes. “It’s not like we have any secrets related to anyone else in the Marvel Universe because it’s not really related.”

But even though it spins a different strand in the Spider-Verse’s multiverse web, Johnson said she didn’t have to worry about giving away any spoilers. “Not really,” she grins. “It hasn’t been difficult to keep it a secret.”

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To get up to speed, Johnson devoured all of the comic books featuring Cassandra, who was created by Denny O’Neil and John Romita Jr. in 1980 as a supporting heroine in the Spider-Man comics. But as she was originally written, Cassandra was depicted as a blind old woman who guided other heroes using her telepathic abilities.

SJ Clarkson, who helmed Marvel’s Jessica Jones and The Defenders, revamped that idea to fashion an origin tale set in 2003 that fills in much of Cassandra’s backstory.

“Madame Web is unlike any other superhero,” Clarkson, who co-wrote the picture with Claire Parker, says. “Most superheroes’ powers comes from strength and agility. With Madame Web, it’s all psychological.”

“She experiences the future as if it’s the present,” Johnson adds. “It’s similar to Spidey sense, but turned to the max — it’s actually seeing and hearing what is about to happen.”

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Under Clarkson’s direction, Johnson discovered a new love for the film’s many explosions, car chases and hand-to-hand combat.

“It was mostly just fun,” she says, smiling. But keeping up her stamina was no easy feat.

“There were days where there was a lot of physical activity and you have to maintain the energy and that’s just not [my] typical day,” Johnson chuckles.

Shooting many of her scenes on a blue screen, where she had to use her imagination, was a challenge, but Johnson trusted in Clarkson and the material.

“I read all the comics that Madame Web is in … but this movie is her origin story,” she explains. “It takes place before you meet her in the comics. It’s prior to her having her powers and how she discovers them. So the comics were super helpful in terms of adding little bits and pieces that made it feel like the two were connected. But with this being the beginning of her story, there was a lot of grace with filling in who Cassie is.”

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Of course, after signing up for a Marvel film there’s always the possibility that a big chunk of her acting life going forward is going to be spent somewhere in the Spider-Verse. But as she’s always done in a career that started in earnest with a supporting role in 2010’s The Social Network, Johnson will balance any potential sequels by continuing to search for roles that challenge her worldview.

“I mean, I’ve been so lucky with the people I’ve been able to work with and the stories I’ve been able to tell,” she says.

Madame Web is now playing in theatres.

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