Marvel Star Calls Hollywood “Bleak” For Creativity
Madame Web‘s Dakota Johnson is the latest performer from the ever-expanding world of comic book movies to weigh in on the current state of Hollywood. According to an interview with French fashion magazine L’Officiel, Johnson expressed frustration that it is so difficult to finance and produce an indie film in the current cinema climate due in large part to the ubiquitous nature of superhero films swallowing the entire industry. Johnson is quoted as stating, “The people who run streaming platforms don’t trust creative people or artists to know what’s going to work, and that is just going to make us implode.
Dakota Johnson Takes Aim At Blockbusters
Dakota Johnson’s express criticism of streaming service executives is well-timed, as streamers such as Netflix and Max accounted for significant holdouts in last year’s long-running WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, which caused nearly all productions in Hollywood to slam to a screeching halt.
Johnson Struggled To Get An Indie Movie Made
With these studios now accounting for a larger percentage of original content than ever, it seems clear that the industry is relying on decision-makers at streaming services to allow creators to be free and push boundaries. Johnson specifically brought up her recent indie outing, Daddio, as an example of a film that required a great deal of fighting to get off the ground.
Daddio Was A Struggle To Make
Dakota Johnson stars in Daddio and also serves as a producer on the film, which was sold to the Sony Classics distributor during its premiere at the Telluride Film Festival. Before the film could be squeezed into the lineup, however, it required tons of work even to get made, as Johnson details in her interview.
Dakota Johnson Signed Up For A Superhero Movie
If a Sony Marvel star such as Johnson wasn’t attached, the film likely wouldn’t have even received the attention it got, meaning the only way to find success in the modern Hollywood machine truly is to become attached, in some way, to a comic book project. There has always existed an adage in filmmaking that says “one for you, one for them,” meaning certain films are made for passion, and some are just to pay the bills, though recent trends have all but rendered passion projects impossible to fund.
Artsy Concepts Can’t Get Funding
Dakota Johnson continued to express grievances with the current cinema landscape, as many of her favorite storytelling ideas and concepts are considered too “out there” and artsy to be bankable, even with her massive Madame Web casting. Nowhere is this more evident than with auteur filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese and David Fincher, who have inked exclusive deals with streaming services in recent years.
Johnson Joins Scorsese And Fincher In Complaining About Modern Movies
Scorsese and Fincher are two of Hollywood’s most beloved directors, known for taking risks and pushing art to its limit, but even they have shied away from the Hollywood model in recent years to partner with streamers who see them as a safe financial bet. According to Dakota Johnson’s view of modern cinema, groundbreaking artists such as Scorsese and Fincher may have gone undiscovered if they began their careers at a time like this. The disconnect between artists and executives seems to have grown further than ever before, with the introduction of artificial intelligence into the creative process making things even worse.
Catch Dakota Johnson In Madame Web
Luckily, Dakota Johnson has a production company of her own, which seeks to snatch up undiscovered gems from overlooked filmmakers with immense talent and non-traditional ideas. With any luck, more creative artists such as Johnson will continue to push artistic boundaries, even when it seems impossible.
Source: L’Officiel
