British director S.J. Clarkson knows her way around a superhero universe, having previously helmed episodes of the TV shows “Heroes” and “Jessica Jones,” in addition to the big Marvel-Netflix crossover series “The Defenders.” She had a run of bad luck some five years back when her pilot for a “Game of Thrones” prequel show got scrapped, which was not that long after she became attached to direct a “Star Trek” film that has since been abandoned. Thankfully for her, “Madame Web” made it across the finish line, which she credited in no small amount to her cast when interviewed by Deadline. Johnson, specifically, got a shout-out when Clarkson shared this nugget:
“[A director] asks actors a lot: Can you drive? Can you ride a horse? Can you speak French? And you get to set and they’re like, ‘Oh, I actually can’t, I’ve never ridden a horse or whatever.’ [Johnson] literally was like, ‘I can drive.’ And I was like, ‘Okay, let’s see.’ And on our first day of stunt rehearsal, she did a 180-stop turn and landed perfectly between the two cones. So, I was like, ‘We’re gonna be all right.'”
Are we quite certain Johnson hasn’t been spending her nights silently cruising the streets of Los Angeles listening to tunes in a satin bomber jacket with a large golden scorpion on the back? She’s idiosyncratic enough that I wouldn’t put it past her. As for “Madame Web,” the early critical consensus is that it’s as terrible as the trailer would lead you to believe, but I dunno. Like Johnson, there’s something almost hypnotically strange about the film’s previews that makes me want to watch it anyway.
“Madame Web” is in theaters now.