Exclusive: Jennifer Lawrence Eyed For Madame Web
Now, we have an update. A trusted and proven inside source for Giant Freakin Robot has shared that Sony wants Jennifer Lawrence to play Madame Web.
Update: While Jennifer Lawrence was eyed for Madame Web, the main character role went to Dakota Johnson. Sydney Sweeney and Isabela Merced also had major roles in the film.
Several months ago, an insider for Giant Freakin Robot shared that Jennifer Lawrence was talking to Sony for a role in a Spider-Man spinoff project. At the time, we did not know what that project may be. Other outlets have reported that Sony is working on a female-centered story set in the Spider-Man universe, and we’ve been curious what that project may be. Now, we have an update. A trusted and proven inside source for Giant Freakin Robot has shared that Sony wants Jennifer Lawrence to play Madame Web.
While we know that Sony talked to Jennifer Lawrence previously, we were unable to confirm that they spoke with her about this specific role at that time. It could be that they’ve been talking about Madame Web all this time, or that the character is only now being put on the table as the option Sony wants her for. The role is an important and different one. It would see Jennifer Lawrence playing a much older character. That may be an interesting challenge for Lawrence.
Previously Jennifer Lawrence’s roles in major franchises have been as a young Raven / Mystique for the Fox-owned X-Men and as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games. Both of these roles have seen her in action-heavy parts as a young character. She’s recently taken a big of a break from acting and is making her way back into Hollywood. During recent interviews, she’s sounded like she’s spent some time rearranging her priorities in her personal life and her career. As she jumps back into a major franchise like Marvel, doing so in a very different role may be very appealing to the actress.
Madame Web is usually seen as an elderly woman, so if Jennifer Lawrence signs on, she will need to be aged. She is clairvoyant. In the comics, Madame Web is Cassandra Webb, a woman who is born blind and is hooked up to many life-saving machines that look like a spider web. She has a lot of very dramatic and often dark lines. For example, she says things like, “Do not help me. I have seen the future, and it is one I would prefer not to live through.”
Madame Web is a character that doesn’t traditionally physically fight. She is a powerful clairvoyant, but isn’t likely to run down a bad guy in the street. This may mean that the Spider-Man spinoff will focus on another character as the hero and that Madame Web will be a side character. In the comics, she has often teamed up with different women holding the title of Spider-Woman. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Jennifer Lawrence’s Web was an important and central figure, but not the central character to the story.
In May 2020, Variety learned that director S.J. Clarkson signed with Sony to make a Marvel movie. While Sony didn’t disclose what this project was about, Variety’s sources said that the studio was working on a female-centered Marvel movie, and that the story would heavily involve (if not center around) Madame Web. Their sources said that Sony was waiting to write the script for this project until an A-List celebrity signed on, and that they had a list of names that included Charlize Theron considered for the project, but hadn’t yet moved forward with any of them.
While our sources were unable to confirm that the S.J. Clarkson directed film and the Madame Web project are the same, it would seem likely. What we have learned is that there is a Madame Web project, and that Jennifer Lawrence is being eyed for it.
