CULVER CITY–Just months before the film’s release, Madame Web has been recast with Rosemary Harris in the lead role. The casting is an intentional homage, as the 96-year-old actress previously played Aunt May in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy.

Dakota Johnson had originally been attached to the project, but she recently exited over creative differences. “The script was just too tame for my tastes,” commented the younger actress, who is perhaps best known for her leading role in the Fifty Shades of Grey movies. “I was really looking for a role where I could debase myself further with more shamelessly erotic sex scenes.”

Johnson then proceeded to make several statements about web shooters, web fluid, and being tied up with webs. Marvelous Movies has declined to print her full statement.

Harris’s casting is welcome news to many longtime fans, as Madame Web in the source material has traditionally been portrayed as an elderly woman. Others seem less sure, however. Longtime Spider-Man fan Eugene Thompson of New York voiced his concerns: “Without a young and hot lead actress, how am I supposed to keep pretending to care about Sony’s Spider-Man universe?”

Additionally, Amazing Spider-Man veteran Marc Webb has been brought on to direct, though he admits some uncertainty about the recent casting changes. “Please–Madame Webb was my mother,” he told Marvelous Movies in an interview. “But seriously–I’m not used to directing a Spider-Man film that’s actually faithful to the source material. I sure hope I can figure it out!”

Madame Web hits theaters on Valentine’s Day.