One of Scarlett Johansson’s best performances was for a role that had been given to someone else before. Back to the rather original genesis of “Her”.
Spike Jonze’s Oscar-winning Her (2014) is considered a true masterpiece and above all one of its director’s greatest films. And as AdoroCinema reminds us, to voice Samantha, the film’s emblematic AI, the director had first bet on a real Samantha, Samantha Morton (The Walking Dead), who was even physically present on the set to help Joaquin Phoenix. and give him the reply live.
However, during post-production, the director decided to switch gears – and voices – and brought in Scarlett Johansson to replace his first choice. In 2013, he had also raised the subject and explained his reasons in an e-mail sent to Vulture.
Samantha was with us on set and she was amazing. It wasn’t until post-production, when we started editing, that we realized what the character/movie needed was different from what Samantha and I had created together. So we changed the cast and since then Scarlett has taken over that role. I love Samantha. I’ve been friends with her forever and hope we’ll do a lot together in the future.
SAMANTHA MORTON’S OPINION
Samantha Morton, who was still credited as an associate producer, for her part, was very fair about the director’s decision. “You have to put everything into perspective. I feel like I created a painting and then put it in the attic and no one saw it, but that’s okay because I know it’s there“, she told Vanity Fair in 2019.
The actress still admitted to being disappointed not to have been invited to the promotional events of the film: “I would have been happy to go with Scarlett and everyone and celebrate the movie at the premiere, because we all did. I was like, ‘Oh, I thought I was part of this family.’”
However, she defended the decision to Spike Jonze : “I think a director has every right to change any ingredient until he delivers the movie. And the voice is a tricky thing. […] If you listen to my voice and you listen to Scarlett’s voice, they are completely different flowers.”
HER’S SUCCESS
The rest, you know it: Her won critical and public acclaim. Described as a “sweet, moving and intelligent” story about modern human relationships, the feature film has grossed over $48 million worldwide and no less than five Oscar nominations including Best Picture. It eventually won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
Wild BunchCast
As a reminder, the 2014 sci-fi romantic drama, which therefore stars Joaquin Phoenix And Scarlett Johansson (who does not appear physically in the film), takes place in the near future and follows Theodore, a sensitive and complex man, inconsolable after a difficult breakup and who then acquires an ultramodern computer program, capable of adapt to the personality of each user. He quickly falls in love with ‘Samantha’, the intelligent, intuitive and surprisingly funny female voice of the program and little by little, they even fall in love… Amy Adams, Olivia Wilde, Rooney Mara and Chris Pratt complete the main cast of the film.
Her is currently to be (re)discovered in streaming on Filmo.