When it comes to being an actor, it is known that those in the business would have to pay their dues. Sometimes studio politics means playing the game in order to get to the better stuff. The phrase that’s usually said is “one for them” — meaning you just take a job just to show you are a team player. And Syndey Sweeney is attributing her role in the infamous Madame Web to be exactly that. After Sony attempted to expand their Spider-Man property, only to get caught in its own web, which let audiences prey on it, it was recently given a mercy release on digital.
The stars of the film have started to distance themselves from the finished product as well. However, Sydney Sweeney did her part and hopes her role in the production meant building a stronger bond with the film’s studio. According to Deadline, Sweeney told GQ, “To me, that film was a building block, it’s what allowed me to build a relationship with Sony. Without doing Madame Web I wouldn’t have a relationship with the decision-makers over there. Everything in my career I do not just for that story, but strategic business decisions. Because I did that, I was able to sell Anyone But You. I was able to get Barbarella.”
Despite the reception, Sweeney would take the hit in her resume (“hit” in a counteractive sense) and let it roll off her shoulders, “The movie is such a large movie with so many people involved. I was just hired as an actor and happy to bring to life a character that my little cousins are excited about. There’s no outcome I can control on a film like that, especially when I’m not a producer. You sign up for whatever happens and you take the ride.” She was asked if she knew “something was off” during the production, to which she replied, “There’s definitely a different formula when you’re making a film like that, that was very different from what I’m used to.”
The film’s star, Dakota Johnson, would take the flop as a learning experience, “I had never done anything like it before. 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?’ 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.”