The rejections that left Scarlett Johansson at a career crossroads
Rejection and Scarlett Johansson go together about as well as an outdoor ice rink in the Sahara. She is a household name for cinema fans, having starred in everything from Marvel blockbusters to indie gems like Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation. In other words, there are few directors who would overlook her wide-ranging talents, no producers who would resist her box office appeal, and hardly anyone who would dare to turn her away.
Unfortunately, that’s not exactly how things played out in reality. Typecasting is a common practice in film, television, and even theatre. When an actor excels in a particular type of role, as Johansson did with Lost In Translation, they are often cast in similar roles, expected to replicate that success rather than explore their full creative potential. This can limit opportunities to stretch their artistic boundaries, trapping them in a specific character mould.
Within a year, two films were released starring Johansson as a young actor: Lost In Translation in 2003 as the unforgettable Charlotte, where she played opposite Bill Murray, and The Girl With The Pearl Earring, which was released in the UK at the start of 2004.
Although these films pushed Johansson’s career forward, with Lost In Translation scoring the prolific actor a Bafta award, it began to trap her in a sentimental stereotype. “It was hard to get out of that pigeonhole,” said Johansson in an interview for Variety.
The Girl With The Pearl Earring only furthered Johansson’s eventual typecasting in a sorry stroke of mistiming, and in 2009, she went on to star in He’s Just Not That Into You, a choice that Johansson says “continued the narrative” along with several other films.
Just looking at Johansson’s work around that time, it’s easy to see why she’d be frustrated. Scoop in 2006 and Vicky Cristina Barcelona in 2008 both continued Johansson’s trend as an object of desire, playing characters who were frequently the subject of affairs. She became on screen, what Hollywood projected onto her off it.
Though she was growing increasingly frustrated with her work and the lack of exciting opportunities—remarking that she was offered “every Marilyn Monroe script ever”—Johansson never slowed down. Her career now boasts a catalogue of uninterrupted work that spans most of her life. As the Coen brothers had already demonstrated by casting her in The Man Who Wasn’t There when she was just 16, there was a profound and enigmatic depth to her on-screen magnetism, far beyond the roles she was often typecast in.
However, it took many years for her to return to that sentiment as producers tried to usher her into a commercial comfort zone. Johansson felt unfilled, leading her to ask herself whether or not it was the “end of the road” for her from a creative perspective. This came to a head when Johansson was turned down from both Iron Man 2 and Gravity, an event that Johansson describes as “the straw that broke the camel’s back”.
This low point of Johansson’s career could have been devastating, but after Emily Blunt could no longer play Natasha Romanoff or Black Widow to use her day job title, Johansson was given the chance to climb out of her pigeonhole. It would have been easy for Johansson to continue taking the “unfulfilling” work or even make one of those countless Marilyn Monroe scripts, but thankfully, she grasped this opportunity with both hands.
In 2010, not only was Iron Man 2 released, but Johansson was able to flex her creative muscles in the revival of the Arthur Miller play, A View From The Bridge, as Catherine. The decision to take a detour through theatre turned out to be a wise one, with Johansson saying that she had “such a growth spurt doing that play, both creatively and artistically.”
Although her role as Natasha Romanoff may be the cornerstone of her modern career, Johansson has blessed the screens with a myriad of roles since breaking out of her creative drudgery. 2013’s Her is just one example, with Johansson stepping out of her comfort zone as an artificial intelligence opposite Joaquin Phoenix.
Johansson’s turn as Nicole Barber in Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story is perhaps among her most impressive performances, a role that offered Johansson the chance to test her prowess as an actor and earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for ‘Best Actress’.
