Sydney Sweeney covers the latest issue of WSJ. Magazine, and this is (I believe) her first interview since the American Eagle “good jeans” fiasco. Weirdly, I think she weathered that storm for the most part. There are people who are never going to like her or respect her…for good reason, she “courted controversy” by playing around with the language of eugenics, to the point where the Trump administration was defending her. But from a PR perspective, I kind of think she handled it in a professional way – by saying nothing and not backing down. She’s actively courting controversy as a business strategy, and sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. Sydney has a very strategic mind, and I actually think she’s fine with people underestimating her or writing her off as a dumb Republican blonde. All while she’s moving like a shark and making big money. Currently, she’s promoting Eden, Christy, The Housemaid and Americana. That’s why she’s on the cover of WSJ. Mag. Some highlights from her interview:
Money management: In 2022, Sweeney told an interviewer that thanks to the financial demands of modern stardom and the decidedly-not-supersize salaries for streaming actresses, she could not afford to take six months off of work. She was reportedly paid just $65,000 for Reality in 2023; later that year, she earned $2 million for Anyone But You. For The Housemaid, she made $7.5 million. In two short years, she has become one of the highest-paid actresses of her generation, and she has built up an impressive roster of brand deals, selling everything from Miu Miu handbags to her own bathwater soap. “What I was talking about is more that I didn’t have time to take six months off. I was so busy, and still, same. But I do that because I don’t want to take six months off. I get anxiety thinking about just taking a few days off….if I wanted to lock everything in, I could probably be booked for the next three or four years.”
Whether she and Jonathan Davino are still business partners: “I’m going to keep all of my personal stuff out of it,” she says firmly.
She’s always got an eye on everything now that she’s a producer: “I definitely have a hard time sitting on set in a chair. I just want to ask, What’s the budget? What’s our line item? Where can we make things run better?” Sweeney says her communication style in production meetings is “pretty blunt.” “I’ve never understood why people try to beat around the bush and not just be direct,” she says. When I ask if she is a confident negotiator, she says yes before I can finish the question.
Why she went to the Sanchez-Bezos wedding: When she pops up in Venice, Sweeney’s connection to the newlyweds is not immediately clear. But a couple of weeks before the wedding, the trades report that Amazon MGM studios bought Split Fiction, the videogame adaptation that Sweeney will executive-produce and star in. She is also said to be launching a new lingerie line that is reportedly backed by the firm Coatue, which recently received $1 billion in investment from Bezos and PC company founder Michael Dell. (She declines to comment on this.) Perhaps the wedding attendance is her way of showing up for the boss.
She’s not going to comment on all of the narratives about her online, but she does see it: “I think it’s important to have a finger on the pulse of what people are saying, because everything is a conversation with the audience.”
Those Dr. Squatch soaps made from her bathwater: Sydney’s Bathwater Bliss sold out in seconds, according to Dr. Squatch, and is currently asking $1,500 on the resale market. “It was mainly the girls making comments about it, which I thought was really interesting,” she says. “They all loved the idea of Jacob Elordi’s bathwater” (a reference to a racy scene in the movie Saltburn). She also proudly tells me that the company was just acquired by Unilever (for $1.5 billion, I learn later, when the news breaks). Whether she has equity in Dr. Squatch or any of the other brands she represents, she declines to say. But you’re thinking strategically? I ask. “Yes,” she says, grinning. “Very.”
She doesn’t have a mentor in the industry: “I’ve always said that I look up to the older version of myself. So I’m hoping that whatever I’m doing now, 40-year-old Sydney will be proud of.”
I don’t know if it’s true that she doesn’t have a mentor, but I find it sad. Like… it’s clear that Sydney has surprised a lot of Hollywood people, and I wonder how many people are jealous of her or worried that she’s figured out a way to thrive without their gatekeeping. She’s handling her business like a total pro and, as she says, she could be booked solid for the next three years. That’s bound to piss people off, you know? As for her Saltburn reference… people are already mad about it. I don’t think blaming “girls” is the right way to go, but I also didn’t think the bathwater soap was some huge scandal either. Sweeney clearly benefited from the outrage/coverage, and the whole thing was clearly done to get free media. I hope she did have equity in Dr. Squatch, damn.
Cover courtesy of WSJ. Magazine, photos courtesy of Backgrid.
