Scarlett Johansson – When she was young and accessible

  September 2006 By Philip Berk

She might have been Lost in Translation,  but there’s no stopping the Girl with The Pearl Earring.  

After winning dual nominations for both films from both the Hollywood Foreign Press and The British Academy, Scarlett Johannson quickly became the busiest actress in Hollywood.

And in fact she’s completed no less than ten films since.

Now all of 21 years, she’s come a long way since Robert Redford plucked her from obscurity to play the physically and emotionally debilitated girl in the Horse Whisperers.

I remember interviewing her then and marveling at her chutzpah. Hadn’t anyone told her that Redford and Kristin Scott Thomas were the stars of the movie.

Only fourteen at the time she talked of challenging “Bob” whenever she felt like it.

The likelihood that she would be heard of again was remote.

And after that she worked only occasionally, hand picking projects like the offbeat Ghost World and the Coen Brothers’ The Man Who Wasn’t There, in which she played supporting roles.

Ironically, it was a film she made when she was twelve, Manny & Lo, which inspired (director) Sophia Coppola to write Lost in Translation for her.

Within days of completing the film in Japan, she flew to Luxembourg where Pearl Earrings was shot.

At her press conference for both movies I was amazed at how much she had matured

Though only nineteen at the time she was suddenly  alluring and demure. Her Pearl Earrings director called her “sensual and  virginal at the same time.”

Here obviously was a young lady who was going places, I thought 

She had just come off a year long relationship — she wouldn’t reveal the guy’s name, but she was fully prepared to talk about it.

“While I was working, and we’d been together for a year and a half, it just wasn’t working out, not that we didn’t have a great time when we were together, but it just wasn’t meant to be.”

At the moment she has three films in release: Woody Allen’s Scoop, Chris Nolan’s The Prestige, and Brian DaPalma’s The Black Dahlia, where she met and fell in love with her co-star Josh Hartnett.

You know she’s in love because this time when you ask about Josh, she gives you:

“I never really talk about my personal life. I find it invites the media into your life, so I am not going to go down that road.”

Two years ago when asked how she handling the dating scene, she replied, “It’s more difficult when you see a cute guy who works at Starbucks down the block, and you think, ‘Maybe I’ll see if he wants to have lunch with me.’ Now, all of a sudden it’s not possible to have a relationship like that.”

Is she was more likely to date someone in the business? I asked her.

“I’m always attracted to creative people, whether they’re musicians or actors. You need somebody who has a similar understanding. That’s why so many actors date other actors. It’s hard for many people to understand the process you go through. So it’s absolutely necessary to be with a partner who understands that. But then again I’ve meet a lot of jerks in this town. Occasionally you meet people you get crushes on, but right now I’m so busy and all over the place. But I try to fit in dates. I like going on dates.”

I chided her for having said she would have made a play for Colin Firth, her Pearl Earrings co-star, if he wasn’t already  married. On the other hand, she found her Lost In Translation co-star Bill Murray remote and distancing.

She doesn’t pick up on my question, so I attempt to rephrase it.

Cillian Murphy  — he played the butcher’s apprentice who pursued her in Pearl Earrings — is young, British, and hunky. (Unbeknownst to me he was already taken.) So how come she’s more attracted to someone mature (and twice her age) like Colin Firth?

Jokingly she asks, “Is Colin mature? You got quite a wrong impression.”

Then seriously she adds, “It’s not that I can’t relate to people my own age, I just feel more comfortable with adults, talking about things like what’s it like to work at the National theatre (in London.) But age has nothing to do with maturity. Sometimes you meet people who are your peers and you think, ‘God I’m not on the same plain as you.’  But then you can meet people your own age you want to travel with, to borrow books from, to borrow movies from. it doesn’t have anything to do with age. It’s more about how open minded you are, your thought processes, and how much brain power you’re using.. ”

Which is just what she’s found with Josh.

In fact they had just spent ten days together in New Zealand, where he’s filming 30 Days of Night.

Complimenting her on her career choices, I ask her how instrumental her mother was in guiding her career?

“There was never advice from my mom, but she milk-fed us with a great knowledge of film. My mom is a huge movie buff. She has seen every movie ever made. She’s like an encyclopedia. She could teach a film history class. So she carved my taste. As for my choices, I’ve always said I would never make a film I wouldn’t pay $10 to see; I’m that stingy with my money. She lets us wear whatever we want” (Scarlett has an older brother and sister and a twin brother) “and she’s able to say, ‘I really hated the script, but I know you’re going to like it. I’ve never had to deal with a psycho stage mom.”

And they’ve always got along?

“My parents never forced anything on us. I was always in school until I graduated. There was no rush for me to do anything. I’m well aware that there are these moms that are crazy. They want it so much for themselves, they use their kids as weird objects. I can remember going to auditions as a kid, lying on my mom’s lap and she’s going, ‘Do you know your lines?’ Yeah. ‘Okay do you want me to brush your hair?’ No, no. ‘Okay.’ and that kind of thing. We’ve always had that type of relationship. ‘Well, Scarlett, I’m going to give you an opinion, but you’re the one that’s doing the work, so you let me know, and we’ll get it taken care of. So I am fortunate to be able to have that relationship.”

Were either of her parents actors?

“I don’t come from an acting family. Nobody in my family was ever involved in the business or in acting. I got the bug when I saw those Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals my mother used to take me to.”

What do her parents do?

“My dad is an architect, and my mom was raising us until about six years ago when she moved to California and started producing.”

When someone asks her about her unusual throaty speaking voice, she’s not embarrassed.

“It used to be a disadvantage when I was a little girl, this cute little blonde with this husky voice. But people have been really gracious about it. It’s gotten a lot smoother since I’ve gotten older.”

What was it like working again with Woody Allen. Their first collaboration Match Point again won her a Golden Globe nomination 

“Match Point of course was a psychological drama whereas Scoop is a comedy. So they were totally different experiences. They say comedy is a very serious business, and that was very true with Scoop. He was very particular how he wanted the lines delivered, very hands on; whereas with Match Point he was more open to the idea that if it didn’t work out, we could re-shoot scenes.”

And they ended up friends?

“Woody is very available. He’s always on the set, making script changes, and you can always find him. If he sees something that he doesn’t like, he’ll come up and make a suggestion, but if he likes it, that’s it.”

Of Michael Bay her The Island director, she minced no words: “Michael is loud, he’s boisterous, he’s obnoxious, he’s rude, he’s all these things and at the same time it’s this strange combination of being an incredibly charming and endearing guy.”

Both Allen films were shot in London.

Did she feel at home there?

“I have family and friends there. I felt very comfortable there. I had a fantastic summer exploring London, going to the Tate Modern, seeing all the sights and the shops and everything.”

Did she forget the West End!

Ten movies in three years how does she keep her sanity?

“It’s been difficult I will admit, but I try to avoid the attention. I avoid places that I know are hot spots to be seen. You won’t find me eating lunch on a side walk.”

Then she adds,“It’s incredibly important not to have too much of your public life on display. Of course it’s great to have people come up to you and say they admire your work, but it can be unpleasant when you’re just going about your day and somebody is following you with a camera. It’s strange to be photographed buying paper towels.”

So how does she remain grounded?

“My mom lives a very normal life, and she makes me feel normal. My family makes me feel normal. My friends make me feel normal. When the people around you that you’ve known all your life treat you the way they always have, it helps you to stay level headed about the whole thing.”

She was recently named by FHM magazine the sexiest woman in the world.

What was her reaction?

“It’s nice if people tell you that you’re sexy,“ she jokes. “Hopefully I’ll remain sexy for some time. But I see myself every day, I know what I look like after three hours sleep, and what I look like after twelve hours sleep. Sometimes I feel okay, and other days you wake up and think, ‘Oh God, I need a hat today.’ When people say you’re sexy when you’re having one of those ‘I need a hat’ days, it’s definitely a nice thing to hear.”

When Lost in Translation won Oscars and Golden Globes for her writer-director and costar. neither mentioned her in their acceptance speeches. 

Could it be because she’s not liked by either her peers or her fellow actors?

I wouldn’t dare ask her, but I did enquire about her working relationship with Sophia? 

“I have spoken to a lot of actresses who’ve had problems with women directors,” she admitted,  “but because Sophia is such a sensitive person, it was nothing like that. But I must admit women can be very catty with each other. Men on the other hand don’t have that cattiness. Either you get along with them or you don’t. On film sets women can be more cunning. I’ve been lucky with every women director I’ve worked with so far, but I can imagine that being a problem.”

With Woody Allen, it was love at first sight and after completing two films, they remain good friends. Bill Murray, of course, was a different story. 

“Bill and I had a very serious working relationship.  Most comedians, as you know,  are very serious actors. Bill’s got things specifically planned and he knows what’s going to work for him.  And of course the way we worked, it was sort of guerrilla film making. We would start at ten in the morning, shoot night scenes at night and morning scenes in the morning, and then the next week we would flip the days and nights. We were just exhausted; I was just a basket case, and by the end of production all we wanted was McDonald’s and a big California king-size bed. So for Bill and I it was like being in a boxing mach. We’d go out there, we’d put ourselves out, we’d have these intense scenes,  and afterwards we went to out corners, got wiped and patted and that was all.”

How different was it working with John Travolta? (on A Love Song for Bobby Long, which her mother produced.)

“John is so unbelievable. He’s so amazing. Unlike Bill, he will sit there and try to remember his lines. He’s sort of figuring it out, and we’re laughing at him. But he’s instinctive in a different way, and his instincts are so unbelievable.”

Colin Firth, whom she teased mercilessly on the set of Pearl Earrings, however, was her favorite.

“Working on a period piece like The Girl with the Pearl Earring, there were a lot of things to make fun of. Colin had  that absurd wig, and I had to wear that awful bonnet. He kept saying I looked liked a peeled hard boiled egg, and I always came back with, ‘You look like Fabio’ or ‘some hairy creature from the Black Lagoon.’ There was a lot of teasing, but when you’re doing such a dramatic piece, you have to relieve the tensions. And I think it’s true that comedians you work with are so serious, and dramatic actors are completely hysterical. But Colin was the most supportive actor I could ever hope to work with.”

In what way?

“I could say, ‘Colin, I know that you have the rest of the day off, but if you wouldn’t mind, can you please stand on the other side of the door during my scene just so that I know you’re there,’ and he’d say, ‘No problem.’ And I would always return the favor, and that’s a wonderful thing.” 

Although she won’t talk about her current relationship, she was prepared to talk about the advantages and disadvantages of being in a relationship.

“I think it depends on what type of relationship you’re in. If it’s a supportive, loving relationship, there’s nothing like it. It can be a real support knowing there’s somebody there who’s sympathetic to what you’re doing, someone you can share your daily anecdotes with.”

But careful not to reveal too much, she adds, “But it’s also wonderful to be a single person who’s learning things about themselves. Just being selfish can be a growing learning process.”  

How puritanical is she? Does she condone sex before marriage?

“Everything is so available. Sexuality is ever present. You turn on the TV in the morning. and you see female pop stars spreading their legs while you’re eating your Granola. It’s in your face everywhere around the world which it wasn’t when my mom was growing up, when there was a lot of repressed sexuality. That’s why especially now  premarital sex seems more acceptable. Parents can only hope their children will listen to them. and  that they respect themselves and not lose their virginity to somebody they don’t love.”

Having played opposite so many older actors, she’s developed a Lolita complex.

How does she respond to that?

“There are always a couple of cocky journalists who say, ‘So Scarlett, why is it that older men find you attractive?’ And my answer? ‘I’ve always been very comfortable with my own sexuality. That sexuality or sex appeal is something that comes from within; it’s not something you can control.”

Is she able to watch herself on screen?

“Some actors can’t stand looking at their own image. I’ve never had an issue with that. I’ve always been able to separate myself and watch it as an audience member. Of course I ask myself, ‘Why did I use that intonation?’ or ‘Do I have a nervous tic?’  But working so much recently I never really had time to look at dailies or watch the video playback.”

Who handles her business affairs?

“I do. I enjoy that. I find it absolutely fascinating. I know some actors will have nothing to do with that, but I like to interact with people I work with. If I have a problem I will call a studio head myself.” 

Her last name is Danish. How Danish is she?

“My dad’s from Copenhagen, but I was raised in New York. For me New York’s like a nationality all of its own. It offers so much culture you don’t find anywhere else. Things available to you are big museums, architectural structures, clothing, music, different nationalities. It’s a giant melting pot. My parents exposed us to all these things, so that’s why I’ve always been open to all kinds of cultures, and that’s why if someone asks  me my nationality I say, I’m a New Yorker.”

Could she, like others before her, end up sacrificing her personal happiness for her career?

“There’s always that fear when you’re overly ambitious, and people have said to me, ‘Take time for yourself,’ and I say, ‘I can’t, I can’t. I simply can’t . It’s not an option for me right now.”

How about kids?

“Certainly I would want to have kids, but I would probably not work when I was having young children. It would be hard to tear yourself away from those little itty bitty babies.”

How domesticated is she?

Does she cook, clean?

“I will cook for company but never for myself. As for cleaning, my home is usually cluttered even though I have someone who comes once a week, helps me dust and everything.”

Any beauty hints?

“My mother always told me to wash my face before I went to bed. I try to eat healthy. I don’t drink too much soda or caffeine, stay out of the sun, the usual things.” 

Her dream is  to do a remake of Natalie Wood’s Marjorie Morningstar about a young Jewish actress who falls in love with an older established actor and lives to regret it. 

“I love that book, and my mom loves that book. I’m just crazy about it. I read it in like a week. I think it’s a fantastic role. I’d love to play Marjorie.”

Obviously she can identify with her being that she herself is Jewish.

And true to form, she adds, “That film could use a remake!”