00:00I was honestly shook and shocked because I was like, oh my god, Sidney Sweeney is that girl.
00:05She is like talented. She's a producer. She's boss.
00:09I was like so surprised that you like really wanted to genuinely connect.
00:14Madam Web is the latest Marvel and Sony film to crawl into theaters.
00:17You want to live, you have to trust me.
00:21The Hollywood Reporter spoke with the stars all about the intensive training they had to do before filming the action movie
00:26and how they bonded as a cast on and off set.
00:28The movie sees Dakota Johnson, Sidney Sweeney, Isabella Merced and Celeste O'Connor play a group of people
00:33who are essentially on their own in the world until they find each other.
00:37What do you think this movie says about the power of a chosen family?
00:40Yeah, I think that message is so powerful and so strong in this movie.
00:44It just speaks to the universality of loneliness, I think, and isolation.
00:48We end up being vulnerable with each other and connecting and finding friendship in a really unexpected place.
00:53I think it's so important, you know, the people that you choose in your life.
00:58That's like really your biggest story and I love how they choose each other and they protect each other
01:05and they really do become this sort of unconventional family.
01:09I feel like that's kind of our own story too.
01:11Yeah.
01:12Yeah.
01:13Yeah, I think you're often paired up with a bunch of actors and they're just like,
01:16be best friends, do it.
01:17Be best friends and then we'll start shooting.
01:19But it's like, no, this is very natural for us.
01:22And I do think that in society today, like we lack a lot of connection and like valuing it.
01:28And so I really do like that message.
01:30I agree with you.
01:31I love to hear that that's natural for all of you.
01:32And you actually became friends on set.
01:34Yeah, we did.
01:35What sort of things did you do off set to bond and strengthen that bond?
01:39We had movie nights.
01:40We would go out and eat all the time.
01:43You would go shoplifting all the time.
01:45No.
01:46So many things.
01:47It was really a fun tune.
01:49It was so fun.
01:50Sydney, when I've talked to you before, you said that you are the activity organizer.
01:55And so it sounds like, was she the activity organizer this time?
01:58And what sort of activities did she organize?
02:00Totally.
02:00She had us working out.
02:02Like she would literally text in our group chat and be like, okay, girl, so here are the
02:05dates and the times for Pilates.
02:07Like join whenever you want.
02:09We're going to go to solid core.
02:11And I was like, wow, like she's so cool.
02:14Yeah.
02:15Organizes a lot.
02:16Like I can't even probably list them all.
02:18There's so many things you organized.
02:19I know that they did like Pilates and pottery, but I was working.
02:24Like they got to do really fun stuff.
02:26And I just was like, if I wasn't working, I was asleep.
02:29When you're filming in all these places with all these new people, it's a constant rotation
02:33of new environment and new people.
02:36And I have tried to, in the last few years, find the importance and take time to build
02:42the lasting relationships and the bonds with people.
02:44Because in reality, we don't really have that much time to truly build a friendship.
02:48I was honestly shook and shocked because I was like, oh my God, Sydney Sweeney is that girl.
02:53She is like talented.
02:56She's a producer.
02:57She's boss.
02:57I was like so surprised that you like really wanted to genuinely connect.
03:02A pleasantly surprise, you know?
03:04Thanks.
03:05And then we all actually became besties.
03:06I'm just glad you shut up.
03:07But before filming began, the cast had to do some serious preparation.
03:13What sort of combat and stunt training did you have to do before filming this movie?
03:17I did a lot.
03:18Yeah.
03:19On average, four to five times a week with a personal trainer to get toned and strong like
03:28a spider.
03:29And with the stuntman, the fighting choreographies and the wires and all of it.
03:33A lot of like running and jumping and being thrown up in the air.
03:37And then the fun part, I think for all of us, is like figuring out our pose for when we land.
03:43From the ceiling or whatever architecture that we're choosing.
03:47We would look at the comic books, see what they did in the comic books.
03:51And then like create a variation of that that's possible for a human body.
03:55I did a day of stunt driving training, which was very fun.
04:00And then a lot of like working out and hand-to-hand combat.
04:03And just like figuring out what Cassie's fighting style was.
04:07Because it's not, she's not like a typical superhero where she has certain kind of physical
04:13movement that's recognizable.
04:15You know, she's, her power is in her mind.
04:18So figuring out her, her fighting technique was fun because she's an orphan.
04:23She grew up in the foster system.
04:25I thought that she would be quite scrappy and wild when it comes to fighting.
04:31Johnson also went through free diving training to prepare for the film's underwater scenes.
04:35That was really fun. I, you know, you learn, I learned how to hold my breath for quite a long
04:40time. And, um, it's such an incredible, like meditative skill to learn. It's amazing what
04:46you can teach your body to do. I think the longest that I did on set was like three and a half minutes.
04:53Madam Webb is now playing in theaters. For more on the film, go to THR.com.
04:57For the Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Tiffany Taylor.
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