Credit: Sony PicturesAs she prepares to suit up for Marvel and Sony Pictures’ upcoming Madame Web (2024), actress Sydney Sweeney recently took to live TV to share a hilarious — and painful — story from the set of her new rom-com, Anyone But You (2023), which might’ve ironically foreshadowed her casting as Julia Carpenter.
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Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU) is full of hits and misses, from the ill-fated Morbius (2022) to the more recent Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), which could very likely sweep at this year’s 96th annual Academy Awards ceremony. Falling on opposite sides of the “critically acclaimed” spectrum, there are plenty of entries that exist somewhere in between, including Tom Hardy’s undeniably entertaining yet jumbled Venom (2018) and its sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021).
With Spider-Man only becoming increasingly popular thanks to Tom Holland’s portrayal of teenage superhero Peter Parker in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Sony is looking to benefit from their end of the licensing agreement with Marvel by adding a new batch of web-slingers to the mix in the upcoming Madame Web. Starring Dakota Johnson, the story follows clairvoyant New York City paramedic Cassandra Webb as she attempts to protect three young women from a mysterious adversary named Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim), who wants them dead out of fear of what their combined powers can do.
Check out the full trailer for Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Madame Web below:
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Alongside Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O’Connor, and Isabela Merced star as Julia Carpenter (AKA Spider-Woman), Mattie Franklin (also Spider-Woman), and Anya Corazon (AKA Araña), respectively. More than her co-stars, Sweeney’s involvement in Madame Web has garnered much publicity, given her popularity thanks to her part in HBO’s Emmy-winning series Euphoria. And according to a recent interview, it seems like she was destined to play the web-slinging heroine all along.
While doing press for the upcoming Anyone But You, Sweeney revealed on Live with Kelly and Mark that she was bitten by a real spider while filming the rom-com in Australia. The actress specified, indicating that it was a huntsman spider that bit her, which left a “horrible” mark on her hand and required her to “take meds,” which, coincidentally, occurred mere months after Madame Web wrapped principal photography in early 2023:
That was a real spider. It bit me. It was a huntsman. While we were filming that scene, it bit me. It hurt so bad, I had horrible, horrible marks on my hand. I had to take meds and everything. Because anything can kill you in Australia.
Well, who’s to say Sydney Sweeney doesn’t take the whole “method acting” thing seriously? The Julia Carpenter actress went on to share more details about her (thankfully, not-so-radioactive) spider bite while appearing on the Today show alongside her co-star Glen Powell, adding, “The spider actually bit me in the middle of the scene, but nobody called cut because they thought I was just making a very dramatic, interesting choice in this scene. Glen was the only one who finally caught on — they thought I was acting, but it actually bit me.”
Although Powell joked that “There’s a different tone to her voice when somebody is actually being bit by a spider,” Sweeney played it off to the best of her ability — until she physically couldn’t. The incident itself looked pretty gruesome, which the actress shared actual footage of while guest starring on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon earlier this week. And yeah, this wasn’t your typical spider, which was nearly the size of Sweeney’s entire palm:
In the same segment, Fallon also shared a hilarious medical report of Sweeney’s accident, to which a cheeky doctor wrote up, “Sydney Sweeney (Cast Department) bitten by spider, now Spiderwoman.” The actress added that, hilariously enough, the medic had “no idea” about her role in Madame Web at the time. Well, they weren’t too far from the truth at all!
Sweeney isn’t wrong when admitting that “anything can kill you” in the Land Down Under. Sharks, spiders, supervillains…here’s hoping she can enjoy some much-needed TLC after Anyone But You arrives in theaters next week.
As for Madame Web, the upcoming team-up flick swings into theaters on February 14, 2024.
Do you think you could’ve kept your cool if you were in Sydney Sweeney’s situation? Are you looking forward to Madame Web? Let us know in the comments below!