S.J. Clarkson Untangles Marvel Throwback Thriller ‘Madame Web’

“Was it what I expected? Yes and no,” he explained. lady web director and co-writer SJ Clarkson as we talked about Marvel’s superhero action adventure. “There were elements that were incredible and you thought, ‘Wow, I’m on this big film set and I get to do all these amazing visual effects.’ Then, in a way, it’s like just another day on set.”

“I think it’s a really healthy balance because it can be very intimidating, like a steamroller is coming at you, and you just have to keep going and try to fight it. You can’t stop it and you change direction at your own risk. “

Clarkson’s previous credits include Marvel’s Jessica Jones and The defenders, Heroes, Bates Moteland Succession. lady web sees Dakota Johnson play Cassandra “Cassie” Webb, an orphaned Manhattan paramedic who begins to experience visions and flashbacks she doesn’t understand. Drawn to protect three young women “with a powerful future,” she has to discover where she comes from to understand why they are being hunted by a mysterious enemy.

Unlike many other Marvel superheroes who have had their own movie, lady web She has never had her own comic, something the writer and director calls “a farce and a rarity.”

“She’s such an enigmatic character on the periphery and the margins, and I think that’s what I loved about her. I’m always interested in that. We see what’s front and center, but what’s right to the side?” That’s often where the interest is.”

Before Johnson signed on for the film, the couple had a series of arguments.

“We sat down, talked about it, gave him some of my film references and talked about how I saw them,” Clarkson explained. “I think it was because I wanted her to be grounded and relatable. She was worried that it was too fantastical, and I said, ‘Look, I don’t know what to do if that’s it, but I think I know what to do this way.’ The collaboration began there and we were complicit at all times.”

When it comes to influences on lady webThe filmmaker knew she didn’t want to make what she felt was just another superhero movie, so she embraced a different genre in search of ideas.

“I didn’t set out to do anything specific, except that I knew I wanted to do a psychological thriller,” he explained. “I wanted to make a movie, but not think of it as real traditional cinema in the true sense of the word, but more like a situation where we have this wonderful universe and a sandbox to play in.”

“I was inspired by many things, going back to the 70s, with Nicolas Roeg do not look now and movies like The conversation and then Beginning and all the way up The talented Mr. Ripley. It was about asking the question: ‘What does a thriller feel like? How do I feel when watching certain movies? If anything, it was infused by my passion for the ’70s.”

lady webwhich hits theaters on Wednesday, February 14, 2024, is set in 2003. It’s an era Clarkson felt she knew well, and she embraces it with period props and a soundtrack that includes songs from the era, including Britney Spears . Toxic – very appropriate for a movie about spider bites.

“I remember the 2000s and the 90s. That was my time, so in a way it was pure nostalgia, a joy to be back there and a little hilarious,” he explained. “The young Spiders were on set and were saying things like, ‘Look at that phone! Oh my God!’ “We remember. 2003 doesn’t seem like that long ago, but it was 20 years ago; that’s now considered a period drama.”

“You don’t realize that when you think that the visual effects budget is changing the cars and the flashing LED screens, but it was a fun and exciting time. That’s certainly how I remember it, which was my youth. There was vibrancy and fun, and music in lady web He did a lot of that for us too.”

“There also wasn’t the surveillance capitalism that exists today. That was a conscious effort on our part to make sure that only the villain had any of this technology and that for everyone else, it was like, ‘Well, we know things can be tracked.’ and there are cameras out there, but not to the extent that we do today. You couldn’t take advantage of it because that option didn’t exist. It was quite liberating because it meant you could tell the story without everyone using their smartphones.”

Keeping a big-budget movie, especially a superhero movie, under wraps while filming on location is always a challenge. To try to mislead fans and busybodies, the production used the keywords “Peru” and “Clair” on the posters, the latter being less random than it might seem.

“‘Clair’ was short for clairvoyance. It’s clever, right? Nobody knew what it was,” Clarkson laughed. I thought it was going to be very obvious and I thought, ‘What’s with Claire for clairvoyance?’ Nobody understood it, which was good. In fact, you’re the first person to ask about that.”

“It was Claire from the beginning, but the only thing is that I didn’t want it to have an e at the end, but the clair in clairvoyance doesn’t have one. They thought that would also help throw people off.” “More. We use ‘Peru’ on some unit signs because they prefer three or four letter words. It’s really strategic. It takes a lot of planning and I just demystified the whole thing, which is hilarious.”

Get lady web Finished was a race against time, as the film was only blocked days before its theatrical release.

“Let me be clear: I could have worked on this longer, but every director will say the clock is ticking. I’m never ready, but we had exhibitors fighting to get it done. It was all about the visual effects, since those were the last ones. things that came. It’s a very solid movie. Most of the visual effects, in terms of clairvoyance, were done in camera with me and a diopter, making a lot of noise and breaking glass on glass and a flashlight. However, “We had a great sequence ending with a lot of visual effects, and that took a little time. “When it comes to the army of people who make me and everyone in the movie look good by bringing the visual effects to life, I want to give them as much time as possible.”

‘We also had some late additional photographs, which were always necessary because of the attacks, we had to wait, so we changed those things at the last minute. The last shot was a computer screenshot I took on one occasion.’ with nine screens, so it took a long time to complete. That was the take I was biting my nails, waiting to make sure we could get it off before midnight to deliver it. I was down to the wire.”