Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura's films “weigh” more than $7 billion at the box office. And with Madam WebStarring Dakota Johnson and Tahar Rahim, it falls flat as a Marvel film dedicated to a female superhero. Interview…
“Of course I was worried when I saw the Marvel box office results,” Lorenzo di Bonaventura answered candidly last week in an interview with the QMI agency ahead of the release of Madame Web.
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Actors José Maria Yazpik and Dakota Johnson with “Madame Web” director SJ Clarkson on February 13 in Mexico City.
“We are aware that the public seems to be fed up with superheroes. We can only offer the viewers something different and that is what we want to offer them. “We obviously hope that the public sees our efforts and that people realize that Madame Web is not a Marvel feature film like the others, that great importance is given to the characters and that we show their vulnerability,” he added.
Lorenzo di Bonaventura was right to ask questions because, like Marvel, Madame Web is all about a superheroine, in this case Cassandra Webb (Dakota Johnson). In this new feature film from the Spider-Man universe, to which Sony Studios owns the rights, Cassandra must protect three young women from the evil Sims (Tahar Rahim) who she is trying to kill. But unlike Marvel, Madame Web has significantly fewer large-scale action scenes, the total budget is $ 100 million, half less than Marvel's.
Women, so what?
Lorenzo di Bonaventura knows testosterone-inducing blockbusters, from Transformers to GI Joe. Why did this producer suddenly bet on a… superhero movie? He laughs when he is asked the question.
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Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura on February 5th in Pasadena, California.
“Thank God I make films with a majority of women,” he exclaimed. During my career I have worked primarily with Warner Bros. studios. and we were very committed to the international box office. The films that sold best internationally were “male” films and I fell into that trap. It makes me feel good to produce a film like Madame Web with very strong female characters.”
“When we made salt”. [film sorti en 2010 de Phillip Noyce avec Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor,NDLR]the expectations of the main character's gender were crazy,” he recalls that in the original script, the secret agent played by Angelina Jolie… was a man.
“I never thought that heroes had a predetermined gender,” emphasized Lorenzo di Bonaventura. They are heroes, period. For me, the reactions expected from a woman in a certain situation are the reactions of a hero. Not a woman's reactions, not even a man's. And the interesting thing about Salt is that it’s the reactions of the other characters that change when the heroine is a woman and not a man.”
“That's why I particularly liked being able to revisit this question in Madame Web, especially since we had not one, but four women on screen.”
In addition, Madame Web, released on Valentine's Day, does not contain a love story, although it is aimed at a female audience… another unusual fact!
“Let's hope that women then choose Madame Web for their romantic evening. I also believe that one of Hollywood's worst mistakes is believing that you need a love story to attract female moviegoers.”
“Madame Web” weaves its web in theaters on February 14th.