Dakota Johnson‘s recent interview with HuffPost UK — in which she discussed her upcoming film Madame Web — has drawn criticism from fans on social media due to her seemingly “stoic” and “awkward” demeanor.
The Fifty Shades of Grey alum, 34, stars in Marvel’s latest superhero flick as Cassandra Webb, a character who gains extraordinary abilities and powers after an accident.
During her promotional appearance with the outlet, Johnson participated in an on-camera interview in which she was questioned about her reaction to a memorable line from the movie’s trailer that had gone viral.
@huffpostuk Madame Web star Dakota Johnson reacts to viral trailer line #MadameWeb #DakotaJohnson #dakotajohnsonedit #dakotajohnsonfan #spiderman ♬ original sound – HuffPost UK
Dakota Johnson Draws Criticism For Her ‘Mad’ & ‘Awkward’ Vibe In New Interview
The interviewer read the line to Johnson and asked the actress: “Do you remember? It was the line that said: ‘He was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died.'”
Despite the line generating numerous jokes and memes online, Johnson remained oblivious to them and failed to grasp why it was so amusing to people. “Why did that go viral?” she asked plainly. The Lost Daughter star remained perplexed when the reporter suggested that the reaction could be attributed to the entertainment value of hearing the line out of context.
“Somebody brought this up and I have no idea what it’s about,” she said, flatly, adding: “Isn’t any sentence out of context, out of context? What a silly thing.” After repeating the popular line from her movie, Johnson proceeded to offer her own perspective. “That seems like a basic storyline to me – but maybe I’m just underneath it,” she noted.
View this post on Instagram
Since being uploaded to the HuffPost UK TikTok account on February 7th, the clip has rapidly circulated on various social media platforms. Some viewers have reacted with discomfort at the exchange, while others have praised Johnson’s decision to reject a joke that belittles the film.
“Oooh she mad, this is awkward,” one fan wrote in the TikTok post comments section as another added: “She really doesn’t seem likeable here.” Someone else replied after watching the interview: “Wow she was NOT into that.” One other accused her of “bullying the interviewer.”
Others, however, came to Johnson’s defense and aired their grievances when it came to the interviewer’s actual question. “This is one of those cases where it’s not productive to bring up a viral meme to the actor in question because the joke’s on how bad the script is and it puts her in an uncomfortable position,” one wrote.
Another added: "Why is everyone saying she’s not likeable? If she’s not vibing with the question she doesn’t have to laugh, she’s not rude or anything."
Last month, Johnson conceded that certain elements of Madame Web were "absolutely psychotic" during the filming process. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, she dished: "I've never really done a movie where you are on a blue screen, and there’s fake explosions going off, and someone’s going, ‘Explosion!’ and you act like there’s an explosion."
She went on: "That to me was absolutely psychotic. I was like, ‘I don’t know if this is going to be good at all! I hope that I did an OK job!’"
The highly-anticipated film also stars Sydney Sweeney, Emma Roberts and Adam Scott, among other notable names. Madame Web will hit theaters in the United States on February 14th, just in time for Valentine's Day.
