We now know why Sydney Sweeney agreed to star in one of the worst movies ever made

Ever since her breakthrough roles in Euphoria and the first season of The White Lotus, Sidney Sweeney has been working nonstop, and while some of her choices have paid off in spades, there is one stain on her record that has puzzled fans for over two years. A new report from Hollywood insiders is finally providing some clarity.

Madame Web is easily one of the worst movies in recent memory, so it begs the question of why a budding A-list actor like Sweeney would accept to join such a disjointed project when the offers were most likely raining down from all kinds of other sources. Well, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the 27-year-old wanted to scratch Sony’s proverbial back, so the studio would scratch hers.

Soon after the actress got the Sony Spider-Man Universe gig, it was announced she would star in a rom-com opposite fellow rising star Glen Powell, also for Sony Pictures. “Sweeney agreed to first shoot a supporting role in Madame Web, part of Sony’s Spider-Man-centric universe of films, as a way to help Anyone But You get the green light,” one source told THR.

Anyone But You, which wound up being one of 2023’s biggest box office success stories, was a passion project for Sweeney who not only starred in the film but also executive-produced it. Her faith in the film proved to be entirely justified, as it went on to make $220 million at the worldwide box office, from a budget of just $25 million, becoming the second-highest-grossing rom-com of all time, just behind 2002’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Madame Web, on the other hand, barely scraped by, making a worldwide total of $100.5 million from an $80 million budget (not including money spent on marketing).

THR reports that Sweeney scored big with Anyone But You. Not only was she paid $2 million for starring and $250,000 for executive-producing, but also received “massive backend profits (…) said to be in the millions.” And even if Madame Web ended up becoming one of the biggest memes of 2024, the overall strategy was still beneficial for Sweeney, who added her $750,000 salary for that movie to her list of earnings.

But that was not the full extent of Anyone But You‘s rewards. The success of that film, paired with Sweeney’s many other shrewd career decisions with projects like Immaculate and Reality, means she is now one of the best-paid actresses of her generation after receiving $7.5 million to star in her next film, Lionsgate’s adaptation of The Housemaid, a thriller by Freida McFadden that made it on the New York Times and USA Today Bestseller lists. For reference, Zendaya reportedly earned $10 million to star in and produce Challengers, while Timothée Chalamet was paid $9 million for Wonka.

Sweeney will play housemaid Millie Calloway who gets way too involved with the family of her boss, Nina Winchester, who will be played by Amanda Seyfried. Paul Feig (A Simple Favor, Bridesmaids) will direct from a screenplay by Rebecca Sonnenshine, per Deadline.

Other projects in the pipeline for the young star include a biopic about professional boxer Christy Martin, where Sweeney will look unrecognizable, and Euphoria co-star Colman Domingo’s directorial debut, a Hollywood period drama about Kim Novak and Sammy Davis Jr.’s relationship titled Scandalous. It’s crazy to think that, all of this, is, in a way, the outcome of Sweeney taking one for the team by joining the cast of a truly terrible Marvel B-film.