S.J. Clarkson Untangles Marvel Throwback Thriller ‘Madame Web’

“Was it what I expected? Yes and no,” explained Madame Web director and co-writer S. J. Clarkson as we discussed the Marvel superhero action adventure. “There were elements of it that were incredible, and you were like, ‘Wow, I’m on this big movie set and get to do all these amazing visual effects.’ Then, in some ways, it’s just like another day on set.”

“I think that’s a really healthy balance because it can be so intimidating, like a steamroller coming at you, and you’ve just got to get on and try to wrestle it. You can’t stop it, and you change direction at your own peril.”

Clarkson’s previous credits include Marvel’s Jessica Jones and The Defenders, Heroes, Bates Motel, and Succession. Madame Web sees Dakota Johnson play Cassandra “Cassie” Webb, an orphaned Manhattan paramedic who begins to experience visions and flashbacks she doesn’t understand. Drawn to protect three young women “with powerful futures,” she has to find out where she came from to understand why they’re being hunted by a mysterious enemy.

Unlike many other Marvel superheroes who have had their own movie, Madame Web has never had her own comic, something the writer-director calls “a travesty and weird.”

“She’s such an enigmatic character on the peripheral and fringes, and I think that’s what I loved about her. I’m always interested in that. We see what’s front and center, but what is just off to the side? That’s often where the interest is.”

Before Johnson signed up for the movie, the pair had a series of discussions.

“We sat down, talked about it, gave her some of my film references, and talked through sort of how I saw it,” Clarkson explained. “I think it was because I wanted it to feel grounded and relatable that she was in. She was worried about it being too fantastical, and I said, ‘Look, I don’t know what to do if it’s that, but I think I know what to do this way.’ The collaboration started there and we were very much partners in crime throughout.”

When it came to influences in Madame Web, the filmmaker knew she didn’t want to make what she felt was just another superhero movie, so she embraced a different genre for ideas.

“I didn’t set out to do anything specifically other than I knew I wanted to make a psychological thriller,” she explained. “I wanted to make a film but not think about it as real traditional filmmaking in the true sense of the word but more of a situation where we happen to have this wonderful sort of universe and sandbox to play in.”

“I drew inspiration from many things, going back to the 70s, with Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now and movies like The Conversation and then Inception and all the way through to The Talented Mr. Ripley. It was about asking the question, ‘How does a thriller feel? How do I feel watching particular movies?’ If anything, it was infused by my passion for the 70s.”

Madame Web, which lands in theaters on Wednesday, February 14, 2024, is set in 2003. It’s a time Clarkson felt she knew well and embraces with period props and a soundtrack that includes tracks from the time, including Britney Spears’ Toxic – very apt for a spider-bite movie.

“I remember the noughties, and I remember the 90s. That was my time, so in some ways, it was pure nostalgia, a joy to go back there, and a little hilarious,” she explained. “The young Spiders were on set and saying things like, ‘Look at that phone! Oh my God.’ We remember that. 2003 doesn’t feel like that long ago, but it was 20 years ago; that’s considered a period drama now.”

“You don’t realize that when you’re thinking the visual effects budget is going on changing cars and LED screens that are flashing, but it was a time that was fun and exciting. It is certainly how I remember it, which was my youth. There was a vibrancy and fun, and the music in Madame Web did so much of that for us as well.”

“There also wasn’t the surveillance capitalism that there is today. That was a conscious effort on our part to make sure that it was only the villain that had any of this technology and that for everyone else, it was like, ‘Well, we know you can track things, and there are cameras around, but not to the extent that it is today.’ You couldn’t tap into it as that option didn’t exist. It was quite liberating because it meant you could tell the story without everybody getting on their smartphones.”

Keeping a big budget film, especially a superhero movie, under wraps while shooting on location is always a challenge. To try to put fans and the nosey off the scent, the production used code words “Peru” and “Clair” on signage, the latter being less random than it might appear.

“‘Clair’ was short for clairvoyance. It’s clever, right? No one knew what it was,” Clarkson laughed. I thought it was going to be really obvious, and I was like, ‘What about Claire for clairvoyance?’ Nobody got it, which was good. You’re the first person to ask about that, actually.”

“It was Claire quite early on, but the only thing was is I didn’t want it to have an e on the end of it, but the clair in clairvoyance doesn’t have one. They thought that would also help throw people off more. We used ‘Peru’ on some unit signs because they prefer three to four-letter words. It’s really strategic. A lot of planning goes into it, and I’ve just demystified the whole thing, which is hilarious.”

Getting Madame Web finished was a race against time with the picture only being locked days before the film’s theatrical release.

“Let me be clear: I could have worked on this for longer, but every director will say that the clock was ticking. I’m never ready but we had exhibitors scrambling for it. It was all to do with visual effects as those were the last things to come in. It’s a very grounded film. Most of the visual effects, in terms of the clairvoyance, were done in camera with me and a diopter, making a lot of noise and smashing glass against glass and a flashlight. However, we did have a big finale sequence with many visual effects, and that took a bit of time to do. When it comes to the army of people that make me and everybody in the movie look good by bringing the visual effects to life, you want to give them as much time as possible.”

“We also had some late additional photography, which was always needed because of the strikes, we had to wait, so we were turning those things around at the last minute. The very last shot was a computer screenshot that I did in a ‘oner’ with nine screens, so that took a long time to complete. That was the shot that I was biting my nails, waiting for to make sure that we could drop it in before midnight to deliver it. It was right up to the wire.”