Actress Dakota Johnson recently appeared on the popular YouTube show, Hot Ones, where she offered a candid and critical assessment of the current state of Hollywood. Promoting her new A24 romantic drama, Materialists, Johnson lamented what she perceives as an overwhelming risk-aversion in the film industry, characterizing the situation as “a bit of a mess right now.”

When asked by host Sean Evans why Hollywood has become so cautious, Johnson pinpointed several issues. She expressed frustration with creative decisions being made by “committee” and, more significantly, by individuals who “don’t even really watch movies or know anything about them.” This trend, she argued, leads to a stifled environment where originality is sacrificed for proven formulas.

Johnson highlighted the entertainment industry’s growing reliance on remakes and established intellectual property (IP) franchises. She observed that “when something does well, studios want to keep that going so they remake the same things.” However, Johnson firmly believes that audiences desire the opposite. “Humans don’t want that. They want fresh, they want to feel new things, experience new things, see new things,” she stated, emphasizing the disconnect between studio strategy and audience demand.

The Fifty Shades of Gray star is no stranger to franchises, having played a central role in three films based on E. L. James’ bestselling novels. More recently, Johnson was part of the Spider-Man universe film, Madame Web, which faced significant critical and commercial failure. On Hot Ones, she humorously acknowledged the flop, quipping, “I’m also not a superhero. Tried. Failed.”

Johnson has been consistently vocal about her difficult experience with Madame Web, telling the Los Angeles Times that the film “started out as something and turned into something else,” and she was “just sort of along for the ride.” She maintained that the failure was not her fault, reiterating her broader critique that “a lot of creative decisions are made by committee or made by people who don’t have a creative bone in their body.” She further asserted that “it’s really hard to make art that way. Or to make something entertaining that way,” adding that “bigger budget movies fail all the time.”

Her perspective extends to the very foundation of filmmaking. Johnson has previously stated that “you cannot make art based on numbers and algorithms.” She believes that “audiences are extremely smart, and executives have started to believe that they’re not. Audiences will always be able to sniff out bullshit.”

In contrast to the trend of remakes, Johnson’s latest project, Materialists, is an original film by Celine Song, the acclaimed director behind Past Lives. Co-starring Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal, the film follows a New York City matchmaker. The success of other original films, such as “Sinners,” which Sam Rockwell described as “encouraging” for its box office performance despite being rated R and mixing genres, offers a glimmer of hope that audiences still crave and support fresh, non-IP stories.