Russell Crowe doesn’t have a ton of sympathy for Dakota Johnson post-Madame Web.
While there are directors with strong opinions on comic book films, often targeting the face of it all, Marvel Studios, there is no shortage of impressive actors who have starred in these superhero films. You have actors like Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Josh Brolin, Michael B. Jordan, Scarlett Johansson and more who have proven their abilities in more dramatic fares. There are even some older iconic actors that have dabbled in the genre, like Robert Redford, Michael Douglas, Anthony Hopkins, Kevin Costner and Michelle Pfeiffer. And let’s not forget names like Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson starring in the ones that legitimized the genre.
Russell Crowe is also someone who lent his talents to multiple superhero films. He was Jor-El in Man of Steel, Zeus in Thor: Love and Thunder and he will be seen in the upcoming Spider-Man Sonyverse film Kraven The Hunter as Kraven’s bad dad. However, Crowe’s attitude on the genre isn’t as dedicated as one might assume. Variety reports on an interview Crowe gave British GQ, where he responded candidly to Dakota Johnson’s impression of starring in Madame Web, saying that it felt like art “created by a committee.” Crowe laughed,
I don’t want to make any comments to what anybody else might have said or what their experience is, but… you’re bringing out the impish quality of my humor. [Laughs.] You’re telling me you signed up for a Marvel movie, and some fucking universe for cartoon characters… and you didn’t get enough pathos? Not quite sure how I can make this better for you. It’s a gigantic machine, and they make movies at a certain size…these are jobs. You know: here’s your role, play the role. If you’re expecting this to be some kind of life-changing event, I just think you’re here for the wrong reasons.”
Crowe is not known for mincing words in the public eye. Although Gladiator II has stars like Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal, Crowe will still get asked about the film even though he will not be involved in any way. Crowe would joke, “They should be f*cking paying me for the amount of questions I get asked about the f*cking film that I am not even in,” adding, “in that world, I’m dead, six feet under. And that’s that.” However, he would recently admit how uncomfortable he is with the film being made, “I’m slightly uncomfortable with the fact they’re making another one — because, of course, I’m dead and I have no say in what gets done. But a couple of the things I’ve heard I’m like, ‘No, no, no, that’s not in the moral journey of that particular character’. But I can’t say anything, it’s not my place, I’m six foot under. So we’ll see what that is like.”