Emma Roberts shocked by Madame Web casting

Emma Roberts was stunned to be cast in 'Madame Web'.

The 31-year-old actress will star in the new movie in Sony's Spider-Man universe and claims that the opportunity to feature in the film came as a huge surprise.

In an interview with Collider, Emma said: "I thought it was very unexpected. It's so funny, one day you're walking around your house, and then you get a phone call that they want to meet you for a Marvel movie.

"It was so weird because I remember being like, 'What's the audition process? What do I have to do?' And then I talked to the director, and I was in Boston a couple (of) weeks later filming, and we had a lot of fun on it."

She added: "It's obviously such an amazing cast, and it's such a unique take on a Marvel movie. So I'm really excited for people to see it because I think it's going to be very unexpected, how they tell the story."

Dakota Johnson is starring in the title role and will be joined in the cast by Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O'Connor and Tahar Rahim. S.J. Clarkson is directing the film which is scheduled for release in February 2024.

In the comic books, Madame Web is depicted as an elderly woman who is connected to a life-support system that resembles a spider's web.

Dakota has pledged to bring "heart" to her performance by drawing on her work on small-scale films.

She said: "I guess having experience on all tiers of films I can bring maybe some stuff from the little movies to the big movies that I want to see in them, you know? I really love seeing large-scale films that still have heart in them.

"People from 'Cha Cha (Real Smooth)' and some from 'Am I Okay?' are coming on to 'Madame Web' with me. It's cool. It's fun to be able to start creating a real team of people that make movies."