This narrowly missed role made Scarlett Johansson doubt as ever: the interpreter of the famous Black Widow looks back on a moment in her career when she felt stuck…
Scarlett Johansson no longer has anything to prove today, but there was a time when she was not satisfied with the turn of her career. Speaking to Variety about the matter, the actress admitted that she felt lost and there was a specific moment when she was about to throw in the towel. As Espinof reports, it was mainly because of a role in an excellent sci-fi movie that she didn’t get cast in, a movie called Gravity…
Although fate then led her to Marvel and success, Alfonso Cuarón’s film will remain one of her regretted projects.
I wanted this role with all my might. It’s a bit of a straw that broke the camel’s back. I’m really frustrated and desperate, like, am I doing a good job? The job offered to me seemed deeply unsatisfactory. I think they offered me all the Marilyn Monroe scripts. I was like, ‘Is this the end of the road creatively?’
Rewarded with 7 Oscars, Gravity finally directed Sandra Bullock who was also nominated for the Oscar for best actress for her performance. Scarlett Johansson then joined the Marvel stables and made her debut as Black Widow in Iron Man 2 (2008), taking advantage of the fact that Emily Blunt had to withdraw from the project because of another film. .
OVERCOME FRUSTRATIONS
Frustrated that she was offered hypersexualized roles, the actress herself admitted at the time that the Marvel film “was not going to change anything” on this side, but that there was “potential for growth in the later films”. And so it was: Scarlett Johansson herself pointed to Black Widow’s gradual removal of hypersexualization over the years.
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But her career cannot be summed up and does not end with the MCU: in the years that followed these moments of doubt, the actress won a Tony for her participation in the play. Seen from the bridgeand his performances in films such as Under the Skin or Her then earned him great reviews.
Suddenly I thought to myself, ‘I still love this job.’ It reignited my passion for acting. I felt less anxious.
Scarlett Johansson has since confirmed that she could just as easily embody an action movie heroine and single-handedly lead a Marvel blockbuster with Black Widow (2021) but also shine in a completely different register with her acclaimed roles in Marriage Story or even Jojo Rabbit.
Her next project should also make her shine: she will indeed star in Asteroid City, the new feature film by Wes Anderson which will be presented at the Cannes Film Festival shortly. And who says Wes Anderson, says stellar cast: in addition to Scarlett, we can find Jason Schwartzman, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Willem Dafoe and Margot Robbie – just to name a few.
Asteroid City will be released in theaters on June 21, 2023. Here is its trailer: