‘Madame Web’s’ Dakota Johnson on the ups and downs of playing a superhero

Dakota Johnson gets her first crack at the superhero world with the new movie Madame Web, in theaters this weekend. She plays the title character, an EMT who discovers she has superpowers that have laid dormant inside her since birth.

Johnson tells ABC Audio that taking on the new genre was “really fun,” but challenging as well, because “It was such a new thing for me to do a big action-y movie.”

” … [E]ven the days that we worked on blue screen was new for me,” she adds. “And I don’t know it. It was mostly just fun.”

One of the most challenging parts of making the movie, says Johnson, was training and keeping up her stamina.

“Like, if I go running now, I’m dead for like three days, I can’t walk. It’s like I’m a mess,” she says. “But I did a lot of training to make sure that I was good for this movie.”

Dakota also learned valuable tips about how to fuel a superhero’s body. For instance, she says, “Bananas are good for muscle spasms, you know? And, yeah, a lot of protein, water, you know, electrolytes. Stay hydrated.”

Aside from the physical strength, the movie’s titular character is clairvoyant, a superpower the Fifty Shades of Grey actress wouldn’t want for herself.

“It would really stress me out,” she shares. “And I also really like being surprised by the future. So I’m happy to not have those powers.”

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