The 2013 performance Scarlett Johansson had “absolutely no idea” how she was going to pull off
Scarlett Johansson has taken her talents across a diverse range of titles in her time, becoming both a Marvel blockbuster star and a champion of the more experimental, saying which can feel a little contradictory at times.
This is because multi-million dollar endeavours like Black Widow and Avengers: Endgame are actively destroying the industry, increasingly making it harder for indie filmmakers to secure funding and widespread theatrical releases, but then Johansson’s interest in subversive filmmaking has brought more eyes to the kinds of films that wouldn’t usually find success in the mainstream.
People are so much more likely to give an ‘unusual’ film a chance if it’s got a big, recognisable star in the leading role, like, for instance, Under the Skin by Jonathan Glazer, which saw Johansson play an alien woman who seduces men before destroying them. It’s an incredible film, which shows Glazer as easily one of the most imaginative and interesting filmmakers of his generation, but the pull of having Johansson in the leading role of this experimental British project certainly helped to get it noticed.
Glazer took a rather unconventional approach to making his third feature, which was far removed from the way movies are made in Hollywood. He has always pushed boundaries and approached the art form with a sense of boldness that some filmmakers just don’t seem capable of tapping into, and here, he took risks by filming with hidden cameras, devising strategies to capture Johansson’s character exploring the real world without the public knowing that they were being filmed.
She walks through shopping centres and drives through crowds, sometimes talking to men through her window, and while this all may sound ethically dubious, the crew would then reveal that filming had taken place, asking those involved if they consented to the footage being used. Luckily, most people were fine with this ordeal, but it was a gamble, for sure.
When Johansson went into the film, she wasn’t certain how it would all pan out, but she surrendered to Glazer’s vision in spite of her apprehension. “I went into this project with absolutely no idea how we were going to shoot it or what it was going to be,” she once revealed.
Adding, “It was weeks before I even knew what I was doing. Jonathan Glazer and I spent a lot of time talking about it, both of us saying, ‘I will not let you down, I will give you everything I have!’ I don’t think either of us knew quite what we were doing. But we started it, and it became clearer as we went along.”
Filming Under the Skin was unlike anything Johansson had ever done before, but this dive into the unknown was ultimately incredibly rewarding, and with its haunting Mica Levi score as well as its mesmerising foray into what makes us human, the film became one of the most acclaimed movies of the 21st century.
Johansson concluded, “This one was certainly an experience I’d never really had before, partly because there was the covert side of it. When you’re working that way, you just have to be open to anything, and because of that you really do allow yourself to be vulnerable. Which is terrifying, but it’s also very thrilling at the same time.”
