Russell Crowe recently responded to Dakota Johnson’s comments about her experience in ‘Madame Web.’
In an interview with GQ, Crowe shared his thoughts on actors who complain about their roles in superhero movies. He believes that when actors sign up for these types of films, they should understand that it’s a job where they need to play their roles:
“You’re telling me you signed up for a Marvel movie, and some [frick]ing universe for cartoon characters… and you didn’t get enough pathos? Not quite sure how I can make this better for you. It’s a gigantic machine, and they make movies at a certain size…these are jobs. You know: here’s your role, play the role. If you’re expecting this to be some kind of life-changing event, I just think you’re here for the wrong reasons.”
Crowe said he wasn’t directly criticizing Johnson as he doesn’t know her personal experience. He says actors can have a bad experience on a film, but he’s not sure if that’s really the fault of the Marvel process:
“But is that the Marvel process? I’m not sure you can say that. I haven’t had a bad experience. I mean [on ‘Thor’], ok, it’s a Marvel movie, but it’s Taika Waititi’s world, and it was just a gas every day, being silly. And then, with JC Chandor on ‘Kraven,’ I’m just bringing a little weight to the circumstances, so the young actors have got an actor they can bounce off. Going to work with JC was fun. You know, so many of these directors have a certain skill level – freaking genius people.”
It appears Crowe himself had a great time being a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Johnson Was Frustrated With Madame Web
Johnson described it as feeling like art ‘made by a committee,’ and said she’s frustrated with the lack of genuine artistic expression. She argued that movies should not be made based on algorithms:
“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 bullsh*t. Even if films start to be made with AI, humans aren’t going to f*cking want to see those.”
Johnson also has doubts about the future of films made with AI. She believes that people will not want to watch them.
So, Crowe views these superhero films as large-scale productions where actors should simply play their roles, but Johnson’s wants more genuine artistic expression in the genre.
