Actress Dakota Johnson recently said Hollywood is “a mess.” She criticized studios for remaking “the same things” when audiences really want new entertainment. “It’s all just a bit of a mess right now,” Johnson told YouTube host Sean Evans during her appearance on Hot Ones.
Evans asked Johnson, “Do you have a diagnosis as to why Hollywood is so risk averse?” He noted, “It’s a topic that’s discussed ad nauseam in industry media,” before asking what Johnson has “observed up close and personal.”
Johnson replied, “I think it’s hard when creative decisions are made by a committee, and it’s hard when creative decisions are made by people who don’t even really watch movies or know anything about them, and that tends to be what’s occurring a lot.” She added, “Also, when something does well, studios want to keep that going, so they remake the same things. But humans don’t want that, they want fresh, they want to feel new things, experience new things, see new things.”
She ended by saying, “So, I don’t know, I guess it’s all just a bit of a mess right now, isn’t it?”
Johnson shared these strong opinions on Hot Ones, where celebrities eat hot chicken wings while answering questions. Since her Sony film Madame Web was a box office disaster, Johnson seems to have felt free to speak her mind openly without fear of consequence.
Earlier this month, Johnson also talked about her experience with Madame Web. She told the Los Angeles Times, “It wasn’t my fault.” She explained, “There’s this thing that happens now where a lot of creative decisions are made by committee, or made by people who don’t have a creative bone in their body. And it’s really hard to make art that way—or to make something entertaining that way.”
She went on, “And I think unfortunately with Madame Web, it started out as something and turned into something else. I was just sort of along for the ride at that point. But that happens. Bigger-budget movies fail all the time.”
Johnson recently admitted to Bustle, “It’s so hard to get movies made.” She mentioned, “Decisions are being made by committees” for both big and small films. “Art does not do well when it’s made by committee,” she said. “You cannot make art based on numbers and algorithms.”
Johnson also said, “Audiences are extremely smart, and executives have started to believe that they’re not. Audiences will always be able to sniff out bullshit. Even if films start to be made with AI, humans aren’t going to fucking want to see those.”
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