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Dakota Johnson is aware of all the hate that Madame Web has received, but c’est la vie. In a new interview, the 34-year-old actress got candid about the movie business but is focused on prioritizing her personal life. In fact, Dakota made a rare comment about being a stepmom to her boyfriend Chris Martin‘s kids and their life together in Malibu.
“I love those kids like my life depends on it. With all my heart,” she told Bustle in the interview that was published on Tuesday, March 5. In a separate comment, Dakota referred to her “stepson,” whom is likely Chris’ son, Moses. The Coldplay artist, 47, also shares daughter Apple with his ex Gwyneth Paltrow.
Dakota and Chris have been quietly dating since 2017.
The How to Be Single star shifted gears by discussing her latest film, Madame Web. According to feverish reminders across the internet, the all-female action movie was a box office flop, which Dakota said she is “not surprised” about.
“Unfortunately, I’m not surprised that this has gone down the way it has,” she said. “It’s so hard to get movies made, and in these big movies that get made — and it’s even starting to happen with the little ones, which is what’s really freaking me out — decisions are being made by committees, and art does not do well when it’s made by committee.”
It is now day 3 of Madame Web being so bad that no one has bothered to add the plot to Wikipedia
— Matt Fresh (@RealMFresh) February 16, 2024
She continued, “Films are made by a filmmaker and a team of artists around them. You cannot make art based on numbers and algorithms. My feeling has been for a long time that audiences are extremely smart, and executives have started to believe that they’re not. Audiences will always be able to sniff out bullshit. Even if films start to be made with AI, humans aren’t going to f**king want to see those.”
The film business has been battling the impending doom of how artificial intelligence could cost artists their jobs and ultimately impact how movies are made.
Madame Web says to Young Uncle Ben “what, you don’t wanna get shot in queens?” in their first scene together. Just in case you wanted to know what kind of movie it is
— Cosmonaut sucraM (evil) (@CosmonautMarcus) February 15, 2024
“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 added in her interview, before adding, “It’s really heartbreaking. It’s just f**king so hard. It’s so hard to get anything made. All of the stuff I’m interested in making is really different, and it’s unique and it’s very forward in whatever it is.”
As for working on Madame Web, Dakota noted, “But it was definitely an experience for me to make that movie. I had never done anything like it before.” Nevertheless, she said, “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?’” the Fifty Shades of Grey star pointed out. “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 [why it’s been criticized].”
