"I never thought I would become a superhero. I was convinced by the idea that Madame Web is a woman and that her superpower is her mind."
Dakota Johnson, 34 years old, making her film debut with The Social Network by David Fincher, later known to the general public as the Anastasia Steele of the billionaire Fifty Shades of Gray trilogy, seems a little alienated by her debut in the Marvel comics universe .
She and yet she is the protagonist of the latest big screen adaptation by Sony, which arrives in theaters tomorrow.
An all-female action thriller, both behind the camera (directed by the British SJ Clarkson) and in front, with three other female protagonists, in addition to Johnson: Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria, The White Lotus 1), Isabela Merced and Celeste O'Connor.
Johnson is Cassandra Webb, a good paramedic who drives ambulances and saves people in New York in 2003. Raised in an orphanage and a foster family, she only keeps notebooks of her biological mother with notes on an exotic species of spider.
She is appreciated by her colleagues, but essentially solitary and closed, her only companion is a cat that enters her through the window at the end of the work shift.
When, after an accident, she begins to have visions that anticipate the future, she understands that she can change destiny by protecting those who need her.
Above all three young girls, still strangers to each other, sitting in the same subway car as her.
Cassandra sees a man (French Tahar Rahim) who strangles her and hurriedly forces her off the train, embarking on a mission that will transform her into a mentor to the three teenagers.
"I really liked this protective instinct of the character, who manages to form a kind of family with these little girls. It's so important for women to be encouraged to support each other, to improve and protect themselves. I think they need more than roles like this on the big screen", the actress tells ANSA who, with the aim of supporting independent and often female projects, founded her production company TeaTime in 2019.
"This trait aroused in me respect for the character and for the story. Together with the director, we collaborated to reconstruct her journey from a normal life to a destiny as a protector. It was fun because as in all stories about the origins of the characters Marvel, there was room to create, you had to fill in the blanks," he points out.
In the comics, Madame Web is an elderly, wheelchair-bound, nearly blind woman who serves as a maternal mentor to other superheroes, including Peter Parker.
In this film, which seems like the first of a probable franchise, the heroine discovers the powers of her mind and finds her first students: "I've always wanted to be a superhero. I think it's crazy to be a role model for others. It's the coolest thing I've ever done in my life!" Sweeney confesses to ANSA.
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