Sydney Sweeney Explains Why She Really Made MADAME WEB
By now, most people who follow comic book movies know that Madame Web wasn’t exactly the cinematic event Sony hoped it would be. It came and went with more memes than momentum, and critics were... not kind.
But despite the backlash, one of the film’s stars, Sydney Sweeney, is keeping things refreshingly honest about why she took the role in the first place.
In a new interview with Empire, Sweeney opened up about what really drew her to the project, and her reasons are surprisingly practical and personal.
“I hadn’t done a studio film yet, and I had started my production company [Fifty-Fifty Films]. I had some properties that I really wanted to be able to take out to studios, and I needed to be able to get my name to have more value, within a studio household.”
It was a stratigic move on her part, not unlike a chess piece moving across the superhero board. Sweeney knew that in order to get her own projects through studio doors, she needed to play the game, and Madame Web gave her that chance. It was a smart play and it worked.
The second reason was a bit more heartfelt. She explained:
“I also wanted to be able to do something that my cousins can watch. I have a bunch of little teenage cousins, and they don’t really understand what I do. I thought it would be so cool to be able to do something that they’d actually think was fun and cool.”
I’m not sure how many teenagers thought Madame Web was fun and cool, but sure, why not! I get it. There’s something sweet about that. Not every gig has to be prestige TV or Oscar bait, sometimes you just want your teenage cousins to finally think you’re awesome.
While Madame Web didn’t exactly swing to box office glory bringing in just over $100 million on an $80 million budget, Sweeney isn’t losing sleep over it.
“I had a really fun time, so that is all that matters to me. I think that if you are enjoying what you do, it doesn’t really matter what the outcome is, on a box-office level. Of course, you want the film to be celebrated and loved and successful, because then everyone succeeds.”
This is a healthy perspective. For Sweeney, the role served its purpose by expanding her career opportunities and giving her younger family members something to geek out about. And really, isn’t that its own kind of win?
