No superhero movie star has outwardly disliked their own Marvel movie as much as Dakota Johnson does Madame Web. Not only did she make jokes at its expense on SNL, not only did she seem confused about what universe it was even set in, but the actress has admitted that she felt it was a poor excuse for a film, describing it as art “made by committee.”
Honestly, many comic book cinema actors can probably relate or sympathize with Johnson’s comments in some way… but not Russell Crowe. A veteran of virtually every superhero cinematic universe out there at this point, the man from Man of Steel, Thor: Love and Thunder, and soon to be Kraven the Hunter was asked about his thoughts on Johnson’s comments in an interview with GQ… and he elected to use his Zeus powers to roast her with a lightning bolt.
“You’re telling me you signed up for a Marvel movie, and some f***ing universe for cartoon characters… and you didn’t get enough pathos?” Crowe said in a strongly worded response that’s going viral. “If you’re expecting this to be some kind of life-changing event, I just think you’re here for the wrong reasons.”
In the same interview, Crowed admitted he shouldn’t comment on “what anybody else might have said or what their experience is” but joked that the question had brought out “the impish quality” of his sense of humor. He went on to stress that superhero movies are made by “a gigantic machine” and they have to operate at a “certain size.” For Crowe, it seems it’s a simple case of turning up, saying your lines, and moving on. “These are jobs,” he said. “You know: here’s your role, play the role.”
Russell Crowe seeing superhero movies as “cartoons” suddenly makes more sense of Thor: Love and Thunder
It’s no surprise to hear that the lack of pathos in superhero film roles doesn’t keep Crowe up at night, seeing as he supplied perhaps the wildest and most OTT performance we’ve seen in a Marvel movie this decade. In Thor: Love and Thunder, the Gladiator star infamously adopted an outrageous Greek accent to play Zeus, a role that also saw him wear a skirt, and strip Chris Hemsworth naked.
Given that, it’s clear he’s obviously able to embrace the larger-than-life nature of these kind of movies more naturally than Johnson can. Unlike Crowe, who’s been making comic book films since 2013, Madame Web was the actress’ first foray into this realm so apparently it didn’t meet her expectations, whatever they might have been. To be fair to Johnson, though, from what we can tell, Madame Web endured a self-destructively messy production and post-production process, so she’s every right to feel let down by the experience. Crowe, meanwhile, got to goof around and have fun with Taika Waititi in the trusted hands of Marvel Studios.
That said, he has himself just worked on a Sony/Marvel flick in this December’s Kraven, which honestly doesn’t look to be that much better in terms of quality from Madame Web, so their experiences may match up closer than we know. Still, even if he secretly didn’t love making the movie (although maybe he did!), Crowe clearly isn’t about to crow about it.