| Diablo Cody | Dialogue |
THE SIXTH SENSE
MADAM E WEB Dakota Johnson brings wit and grit to Sony’s clairvoyant-superhero-origin-story thriller.
When looking for someone to helm a woman-led superhero movie, turning to a director who’s been involved with one of the best-received comic-book series of the past decade, Jessica Jones, makes perfect sense.
‘There’s a groundedness, a grittiness, to Jessica Jones, which is definitely part of the cinematic vernacular of Madame Web,’ British director S.J. Clarkson, who oversaw two episodes of Jessica Jones, tells Teasers. ‘They’re both loners, a little bit abrasive, a bit quirky, and on the outer edges of things. With JJ, she had PTSD. That [sense of] reality to it was its success in a way. I suppose it’s the same with Madame Web.’
An origin story set in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, the film offers a different angle on Madame Web – aka Cassandra Webb – to the comic books. On the page, she’s an elderly blind woman with ‘fully fledged’ clairvoyant powers; in the movie, she’s a 30-something super-powered newbie. ‘In many ways, the character traits are the same,’ says Clarkson. ‘You pore through the comics, and you go through what the skill set is, and we’ve embraced and adopted those.’
Clarkson’s career encompasses directing jobs on high-profile TV series including Heroes, Dexter, Orange Is the New Black and Succession. She worked on Netflix Marvel team-up series The Defenders and helmed an unreleased Game of Thrones prequel pilot (‘I’m sorry the fans got denied it.’). An eclectic mix, in Clarkson’s own words, giving her experience in multiple genres.
Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura describes Madame Web as a thriller, while Clarkson tosses around words like ‘cerebral’ and ‘psychological’. Dakota Johnson stars as the titular character, a paramedic who is brought together with three young women – who are all destined for powerful futures.
Johnson, says Clarkson, balances ‘the wit, the humour and the abrasiveness with the compassion of the character really well’. Sydney Sweeney, meanwhile, portrays comic-book Spider-Woman Julia Carpenter;
Isabela Merced plays Aña (Anya) Corazón aka Spider-Girl; and Celeste O’Connor is Mattie Franklin, another one-time comic-book Spider-Woman. The foursome start off ‘not necessarily getting on’, reveals Clarkson, but go on to form ‘a sort of family’.
Acclaimed actor Tahar Rahim (A Prophet, The Mauritanian) plays another character from the pages of the comics, villain Ezekiel ‘Zeke’ Sims. ‘He’s not afraid to be intense,’ teases Clarkson. ‘There’s a level of ambiguity to his character; other layers.’
‘There’s a groundedness that is part of the cinematic vernacular of Madame Web’
S.J. CLARKSON
While Sony Pictures stresses the standalone, ‘meanwhile, in another universe…’ of it all, that won’t stop devotees of the intricately woven screen universe – that sees Disney’s MCU sharing Spider-Man with Sony – wanting to know precisely where Madame Web is caught within it.
‘I’m really excited for you to see the film and the potential of what it could be, that’s for sure,’ says Clarkson enigmatically. ‘But I would probably say watch this space.’ Your spidey sense ought to be tingling right about now.
MADAME WEB OPENS IN CINEMAS ON 14 FEBRUARY.