MADAME WEB Director SJ Clarkson Reveals Film’s Timeline and Verifies It’s an ‘Autonomous World’ Origin Story

There are only a few weeks left until the release of the latest Sony/Marvel film, Mrs. Webhero Dakota Johnson as Cassandra Webb, a New York paramedic who begins to show signs of clairvoyance. Forced to face revelations about her past, she must protect three young women from a mysterious adversary who wants them dead.

Madame Web is part of Sony’s vast universe of Spider-Man characters, created in 1980 by Denny O’Neil AND Giovanni Romita Jr. as a supporting character in the Spider-Man comics. She was first introduced as a blind, paralyzed elderly woman with telepathic abilities. In Marvel Comics, she spends most of her time connected to a web-like life support system, guiding other heroes with her psychic powers. But Johnson and the director of the film, SJ Clarksonthey say they wanted to weave their own version of Cassie’s journey and describe it Mrs. Web as an “origin story” of the character.

Clarkson explained in an interview with Entertainment Weekly:

“I really like the idea of ​​someone who can see into the future, but until they can truly understand their past and appreciate where they are, they can’t use that power. Without wanting to overload it with depth, I thought it was an amazing thing to explore: if we understand our past and see where we are in the present, we can make better choices for the future.

Set in 2003, the film follows Cassie as she grapples with her new powers and faces a mysterious enemy named Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim). Ezekiel hunts three young women: Julia Cornwall (Sydney Sweeney), Mattie Franklin (Celeste O’Connor) and Anya Corazon (Isabela Mercede). Die-hard Spidey fans will recognize those names. In the comics, Julia, Mattie, and Anya all develop spider-related powers, and in Mrs. Web, Ezekiel seems determined to prevent this from happening. It’s up to Cassie to team up with the young trio, helping protect them from Ezekiel’s watchful eye. Adam Scott He also appears in an unspecified role, and while Clarkson remains tight-lipped about his character, she teases that the actor is responsible for improvising some of the film’s funniest lines.

Clarkson went on to talk about the film and the character’s place in the superhero universe, saying:

“She is definitely in a world of her own. I was able to have free rein and let the film be what it needed to be, instead of trying to force it into something else. It was a gift, in a way, to be able to take something and bring a fresh and hopefully original vision to it.

However, centering the story on a prophetic hero can create a complicated shooting schedule. Clarkson explains that the crew often had to shoot versions of the same scene over and over again, each with slightly different results depending on Cassie’s vision. Johnson says she often lost track of which scenes were real and which were in Cassie’s head, and she often had to turn to Clarkson for a refresher.

Johnson said of his work with the director:

“I trusted her so much. I’ve never done a movie where you’re on a blue screen and there’s fake explosions and someone says, “Explosion!” and you act like there’s an explosion. This to me was absolutely psychotic. I thought, “I don’t know if this is going to be any good!” I hope I did a good job!’ But I trusted her. She works so hard and she hasn’t taken her eyes off the film since we started.

Fans are still waiting to see if this will be a success or a failure. I hope it’s a fun movie to watch in the theater. I’ll be there to check. Mrs. Web will be in theaters this Valentine’s Day, February 14th.