TO times a detail is enough. When we met Scarlett Johansson in 2009, for example, at the end of the interview we realized that he had recorded the conversation, camouflaging the device on a table … Evident test of a hyper -controlled control syndrome (and a sympathy not really innate, let’s face it), which explains so much about her. And why don’t you miss a blow. «I just directed a short film in a choral film, New York, I Love YouHe had anticipated us. «I want to be behind the camera since childhood. Acting with many directors I repeated myself: “I want to dedicate myself to that profession, it will be the way I will take”. It seems to me a natural evolution. “
Scarlett Johansson: 40 years and 30 career
And, punctually, here we are talking about his director’s debut. At 40 (and thirty career), just entered the guinness of primates such as the star who ensures the major box office collections, at the top now in the box office with Jurassic World. RebirthJohansson made her debut in the feature film with Eleanor The Great, Presented at the Cannes Film Festival and coming next season.
By demonstrating, moreover, a fair courage. “Eleonora La Grande” has nothing captivating or royal, it is ninety -four year old (the sublime Squibb June) struggling with a very personal elaboration of mourning: After the sudden disappearance of the best friend, back from the Nazi concentration camps, “steals” her stories and enrolled in a group of Holocaust survivors. Deceiving not only them, but also a student who intends to dedicate the master’s thesis …
Scarlett Johansson (Getty Images).
“I & Robert Redford”
Why did he dream of the transition to the direction even as a child?
Fascination took me on the set of The man who whispered to the horses Seeing how Robert Redford worked. It is not that I had a crazy passion for acting at that time: I had it as a child, she had dissolved a little … it was so rare to find significant scripts that I started to feel less participating, less involved in the creative process. I identified some projects here and there, but it was complicated: today there are more opportunities for teenagers to play exciting roles, at the time it was not so common … and that’s why I started thinking: “Well, I will be a director”. Towards twenty years, however, the turning point: I began to take an interest in acting more, to better understand my profession, to challenge myself in different ways. And eight years ago I had completely abandoned the idea.
Scarlett Johansson producer
What happened?
Our production company founded in 2017 (These Pictures, in partnership with Keenan Flynn and Jonathan Lia, editor’s note), I said to myself: “Oh, I will never want to be a director! It is a solving problems, continuously: a nightmare!”. But, after all, I knew that one day something would come to direct. Sometimes I was proposed an interesting project, unfortunately it was never “the right one”.
Why Eleanor The Great was it?
Tory Kamen’s screenplay already involved the involvement of June Squibb and I read it – to be honest – driven only by the curiosity to know what he wanted to commit a champion like her, in what he was investing his time … and I was surprised, I did not expect such a delicate, tender narrative device. I found the story both fun and moving. I called my members of the production house and I said: “I think I do it. I understand this story, it is familiar to me”. And that’s how the car has set in motion, and a race against time has taken place. It was very, very stressful. A madness.
In what sense did it seem “familiar”?
Reading the plot, I cried: something that happens to me rarely … (smiles) My grandparents were born in New York, but most of their relatives died in the Warsaw ghetto. The grandmother, to whom I was very close, was different from Eleanor’s character, but he had the same strength, the same complexity. I felt dragged by that angle of the story, which helped me and, in a certain sense, “legitimized” to direct it.
Scarlett Johansson director on the set of “Eleanor The Great” (Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics).
“My Jewish identity”
Do you think this film can make a contribution to reflection in this historical moment?
It would be an understatement to politicize it. What he leaves to me – and I hope you leave the public – is the feeling that Eleanor, becoming an actor, is a really difficult gesture to accept: in the room he felt the audience exclaimed: “Oh no … Oh God, no!”. But, in the end, I hope you feel empathy for her, the goal is that you can forgive her: it is clear that that gesture comes from love, pain, solitude, lack. And from the urgency to tell a story that would otherwise disappear with her friend … for me the most important message is forgiveness. Obviously, there are themes related to Jewish identity, to the difference between truth and reality, to the importance of preserving the memory of the Holocaust, of never forgetting … However, for me the message of forgiveness is the most important and useful.
What does it mean to direct? Finally feel free to express yourself with your own voice?
I usually speak with my voice! (an annoying thread) I am quite at ease with myself, and I become more and more with age. It is one of the few positive things of warning! There are others that suck, and gradually worsen, but this aspect is beautiful! If you say a movie, you have to ask someone to give yourself a lot of money: however “small” it is, we are talking about millions of dollars. Ten years ago I could not have, now yes: I feel able to manage this responsibility.
“I am inspired by Woody Allen”
June Squibb and Erin Kellyman in a scene of “Eleanor the Great” (Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics).
Did he take inspiration – perhaps unconsciously – from the directors with whom he worked?
Probably yes … in any case, nothing intentional. There are those who have great visual references (Michelangelo Antonioni, Ingmar Bergman) and it was not my approach. What I liked is that he reminded me of certain independent films from the 90s or early 2000s, focused on the characters and often with an unusual narrative structure. Maybe they feel echoes of On the other side of the road (romantic comedy with Amy Irving, editor’s note) or of Kiss With Holly Hunter. And, of course, of Woody Allen’s films (for which he starred in Match point, Scoop, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, editor’s note).
With Allen it shares the sense of humor.
Some tragic scenes manage to be hilarious. And June has an extraordinary comic timing: I laughed a lot to assembly!
After interpreting the various The Avengers, Iron Man, Black Widowwould he be willing to direct a Marvel superhero adventure?
Any project has its challenges … if I warned that the subject is of interest to the public, then yes: I would consider it. Also this film has a fair commercial potential, and it is important for me.
The support of Squibb
The last question is for June Squibb, who was next to the neoregist throughout the interview.
How was it directed by Scarlett Johansson?
Marvelous! He left me time. He knew when they needed a little more ciak to arrive where we both wanted to arrive, and he granted them. I collaborated with extraordinary directors, but nobody had his knowledge of acting. And this makes a huge difference …