Sean Penn has confessed that he spent 15 years feeling miserable on film sets before finding a new purpose in his acting career with the movie Daddio, released in 2024. The actor, who has won three Oscar awards, noted that he did not enjoy making movies since he starred in Milk in 2008, a biopic that earned him his second Oscar and where he felt a true connection with the project. A movie that restored his enthusiasm Daddio, directed by Christy Hall, marks a significant change in Penn’s career, who shares credits with Dakota Johnson, […]
Sean Penn has confessed that he spent 15 years feeling miserable on film sets before finding a new purpose in his acting career with the movie Daddio, released in 2024. The actor, who has won three Oscar awards, noted that he did not enjoy making movies since starring in Milk in 2008, a biopic that earned him his second Oscar and where he felt a true connection with the project.
A movie that restored hope
Daddio, directed by Christy Hall, marks a significant change in Penn’s trajectory, who shares credits with Dakota Johnson, who took on the role of Girlie after it was originally offered to Daisy Ridley. The film, which has a budget of 10 million dollars, narrates the conversation between Girlie and the taxi driver Clark, played by Penn, as they traverse the streets of New York. Despite its simple premise, the film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in 2023 and had a limited release in theaters in the United States and Canada, grossing only 1.8 million dollars.
In an interview with The New York Times, Penn reflected on his career, mentioning that he had been “pretending” on set and that the experience had become exhausting. “What I thought the most was: What time is it? When are we going to finish?” he commented, adding that the arrival of the script for Daddio marked a rebirth in his acting motivation. “I felt that this could be a pleasant experience and that matters to me now, maybe more than in the past,” he stated, highlighting his desire to focus on projects that bring him personal satisfaction.
Although the MCU is currently struggling and Sony hasn’t always known what to do with its Marvel properties, that doesn’t mean they aren’t still making movies. Some of them are fascinating. And in recent years, there has been a movie that has caught everyone’s attention for being a strange combination of a little-known character, a lot of problems surrounding the film, and a failure that has actually been more of a small bluff without much more significance. Because Madame Web is less than what people say. Madame Web is the […]
Although the MCU is currently struggling and Sony hasn’t always known what to do with its Marvel properties, that doesn’t mean they aren’t still making movies. Some of them are fascinating. And in recent years, there has been a movie that has caught everyone’s attention for being a strange combination of a little-known character, a lot of problems surrounding the film, and a failure that actually has been more of a small bluff without much more significance. Because Madame Web is less than what people say.
Madame Web is the fourth film in Sony’s Spider-Man Cinematic Universe, which includes Venom, Morbius, and Kraven the Hunter. Being the fourth film produced for it, but unable to use Spider-Man, they continued with the idea they started with when producing these films: to capitalize on the large number of iconic characters surrounding Spider-Man to produce movies
Madame Web, one of the most unique characters in Spider-Man
But who is Madame Web, anyway? For many people, she is not even a well-known character within the Spider-Man mythology, and we can’t blame them. Madame Web is a mutant, like the X-Men, who has the ability to see the future. Working as a medium and living connected to a life support system in the form of a web, hence her name, her connection to Spider-Man comes from helping him in moments when he has been lost and hasn’t known how to move forward through normal means, needing the help of someone capable of seeing beyond what anyone else can.
In the movie, as expected, we have an origin story that tells us not only how she becomes Madame Web, but also how she saved three young girls who will become Spider-Women in the future, unless they die before she can save them.
With a luxury casting, with Dakota Johnson as Cassandra Webb and Celeste O’Connor, Isabela Merced, and Sydney Sweeney before deciding that she valued her career as a fascist muse more than as an actress like the three future Spider-Women, the movie is based on that premise. Dakota Johnson trying to come to terms with her body slowly failing her, her ability to see the future and the fact that these three girls will be crucial for the future of humanity, and that’s why she can’t leave them behind.
With a very interesting premise and a capable team, the movie falls short of being what it aims to be. With a disjointed script and direction lacking in personality, the potential of the film is evident, but it lacks a bit to be what it promises. This is also reflected in its box office performance. Costing 100 million dollars, it barely managed to gross a little over that same 100 million, making it a small failure.
The biggest failure was the reception from critics and the public. The critics destroyed it, reaching a 10% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 26 on Metacritic. On social media, it became a meme for weeks. It received awards, yes, but exactly the ones you don’t want to receive. It won the award for worst movie, worst actress, and worst screenplay at the Golden Raspberry Awards and was nominated for the most campy movie at the Dorian Awards. This demonstrates that there is little future for Madame Web in Sony’s plans.
But the movie is not, by any means, the terrible disaster that critics and the public claim. It is a movie that could have been much better, but it is not an absolute disaster either. And you can check it out by watching it on Disney+, now that they finally dare to bring it to the streaming platform for everyone to see.
Dakota Johnson has recently been awarded the Razzie Award for Worst Actress, a distinction that reflects the complexity of her role in Madame Web; this film not only did not receive the expected success, but was also harshly judged by critics and the public. This recognition, although negative, is not exactly something new in the world of cinema, where criticisms can often be fleeting and forgotten as actors continue their careers. Not all is lost for Dakota In a show of solidarity, Sandra Bullock, who has also gone through a similar experience, stepped in […]
Dakota Johnson has recently been awarded the Razzie Award for Worst Actress, a distinction that reflects the complexity of her role in Madame Web; this film not only did not receive the expected success, but was also harshly judged by critics and audiences. This recognition, although negative, is not exactly something new in the world of cinema, where criticisms can often be fleeting and forgotten as actors continue their careers.
Not all is lost for Dakota
In a show of solidarity, Sandra Bullock, who has also gone through a similar experience, reached out to Johnson after the Razzie award ceremony. Bullock won the same award in 2010 for her performance in the romantic comedy All About Steve, but managed to rise from the ashes by receiving an Oscar for Best Actress for her acclaimed performance in The Blind Side. This type of trajectory serves as a reminder that a stumble in an actor’s career does not define their future in the film industry.
This interaction was revealed on Amy Poehler’s podcast Good Hang, where Johnson shared the revelation regarding Bullock’s support, noting that she receives the contact as a form of encouragement in difficult times. The experiences of both actresses outline a path of overcoming, where criticism is not always the end of the story, but rather an opportunity for personal and professional growth.
The Razzie Awards have traditionally been seen as a contrast to the celebration of achievements at the Academy, and although they can be painful for the winners, it has been observed that many stars manage to transform these experiences into incentives to improve their acting. Over time, both Bullock and Johnson may find inspiration in their respective journeys that leads them to new and better roles in the future.
