Movies

Sydney Sweeney Gets Brutally Candid on Real Reason Why She Did Madame Web

Sydney Sweeney Gets Brutally Candid on Real Reason Why She Did Madame Web
Image credit: Sony Pictures Releasing, Legion-Media

Starring in Sony’s latest horrendous flop wasn’t Sydney Sweeney’s end goal; it was a business move, star says. And honestly, her approach is both admirable and… Sad.

Summary:

  • Sydney Sweeney and Dakota Johnson ’s recent movie Madame Web performed terribly at the box office and in viewers’ eyes alike.
  • Sweeney didn’t expect the film to work to begin with, but she had her reasons to join it nonetheless.
  • As the actress explained her way of thinking, she revealed the disappointing truth about Hollywood and its “closed-doors” policy.

In Hollywood, success is measured in billions. The American movie industry dominates the world because it blends art and business — but while it’s great for money-making, it might not be so good for the, well, art itself.

Actors often have to miss out on amazing roles in favor of the mainstream ones to succeed, and the audience’s newest sweetheart Sydney Sweeney can tell you all about it.

Why Did Sydney Sweeney Star in Madame Web?

Sydney Sweeney Gets Brutally Candid on Real Reason Why She Did Madame Web - image 1

Let’s be real: Madame Web is notorious. Like, big-big notorious. The latest Dakota Johnson-led superhero movie performed disastrously at the box office and in viewers’ eyes both, and had no chance for redemption. There is no such thing as redemption for a film that bombed several times worse than Morbius, after all.

But Sydney Sweeney, Madame Web’s star, didn’t expect it to work wonders from the start. She had very exact reasons to join the film and achieved what she wanted.

“To me, [Madame Web] was a building block; it’s what allowed me to build a relationship with Sony. Without doing Madame Web, I wouldn’t have had 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,” Sweeney told GQ.

Now that’s some cold calculations we can’t help but admire — and feel sad about.

Sydney Sweeney Showed Hollywood’s Underbelly

As a modern Hollywood actress, Sydney Sweeney did exactly what she had to do: she calculated her moves and took a tactical loss (starring in an awful movie) to achieve a strategic win (getting close to Sony’s stakeholders). The star’s acumen and understanding of the industry is nothing short of spectacular, we’ll give her that.

Sydney Sweeney Gets Brutally Candid on Real Reason Why She Did Madame Web - image 2

But what this says about Hollywood is rather upsetting.

If a young star has to willingly jump into a hot mess just to push their other, actually worthwhile projects further, and waste months if not years for it, it’s quite sad.

This indicates the closed-doors policy in the industry: however great ideas you have, you won’t get anywhere without knowing the right people. And the right people are nigh untouchable in their offices, so you have to star in Madame Web to reach them.

Well, at least it worked out fine for Sweeney: Sony’s critical and commercial bomb turned out so forgettable that the star’s reputation didn’t suffer from it. No one even remembers Madame Web now, and it’s only been a few weeks since its release.

Source: GQ