Dakota Johnson Blames Hollywood Flops On “People Who Don’t Have A Creative Bone In Their Body”

The next time a big-budget movie tanks, Dakota Johnson wants one thing to be clear: “It wasn’t my fault.”

That’s exactly what the 50 Shades of Grey star told the Los Angeles Times while reflecting on the Madame Web disaster, an 11% Rotten Tomatoes clunker that made barely $43 million domestically despite riding on Marvel branding and the Sony machine. Johnson starred as Cassandra Webb, a paramedic who develops psychic abilities. While she was the lead, she had nothing to do with the result, she says.

“There’s this thing that happens now where a lot of creative decisions are made by committee,” she said. “Or made by people who don’t have a creative bone in their body. And it’s really hard to make art that way. Or to make something entertaining that way.”

I mean...is she wrong? Original storytelling is on a halt while the industry keeps cranking out reboots, lazy adaptations, and sequels no one asked for. So when Johnson says Madame Web “started out as something and turned into something else,” we believe her. “I was just sort of along for the ride at that point. But that happens. Bigger-budget movies fail all the time.”

She’s not bitter about it, either. “I don’t have a Band-Aid over it,” she said. “There’s no part of me that’s like, ‘Oh, I’ll never do that again’ to anything. I’ve done even tiny movies that didn’t do well. Who cares?”

That shrug might sound casual, but it’s actually a pretty bold stance in an industry where actors often scramble to distance themselves from flops. At least Johnson’s calling it like she sees it, and she’s been calling it for a while. Right after Madame Web flopped, she told Bustle, “Films are made by a filmmaker and a team of artists around them. 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 b*llshit.”

That might be one of the most honest things any actor has said about the studio system in recent memory. People aren’t dumb, and they’re tired of watching the same recycled, soulless storylines. This could be the reason why she was so drawn to Materialists, her latest film with Past Lives director Celine Song. The A24-backed rom-com has heart, and it’s Johnson’s first in the genre since How to Be Single in 2016.

“They’re not good,” she said of the rom-com scripts she’s seen over the years. “Sorry. I think a lot of what I read these days is void of soul and heart. And Celine is all soul and heart.”

Case in point: Johnson is looking for something that feels real, something people can actually connect with. “I really love a rom-com if it feels like I can connect to the people in it. And I think I’ve found it hard to connect to the people in some of the ones that I’ve been offered.”

Materialists felt like a breath of fresh air for her. “The complexities of all of the characters. The paradox. Everyone being confused about what the f*ck they’re supposed to do with their hearts. And what’s the right move? I found that very honest and I found it just so relatable.” Guess we'll see if it's the kind of honesty audiences are actually seeking, or if Hollywood’s still too caught up chasing algorithms to notice.

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