Tahar Rahim set to star in 'Madame Web' alongside Dakota Johnson

Los Angeles, June 4 French actor Tahar Rahim, who played Charles Sobhraj in 'The Serpent', will join Dakota Johnson in Sony Pictures' 'Madame Web'.

Also on board are Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O'Connor and Isabela Merced for director S.J. Clarkson. Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless penned the screenplay, with Kerem Sanga also penning a previous draft, reports 'Deadline'.

In the comics, Madame Web is depicted as an elderly woman with myasthenia gravis and thus was connected to a life-support system that looked like a spider web. Due to her age and medical condition, Madame Web never actively fought any villains.

For that reason, sources told 'Deadline' that it is possible the project could turn into something else. Insiders say that due to her psychic sensory powers, she is essentially Sony's version of 'Doctor Strange'. Rahim's role in the film is currently being kept under the wraps.

Sony is coming off a hot streak with 'Venom: Let There Be Carnage' making more than $500 million worldwide, while 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' was the biggest film of 2021 with $1.85 billion in worldwide sales.

Rahim recently wrapped filming Ridley Scott's 'Napoleon', in which he co-starred opposite Joaquin Phoenix. Up next, he will be in Apple TV+ and Scott Z Burns' limited series 'Extrapolations', as well as 'Don Juan', a French musical directed by Serge Bozon that recently premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.