The role Scarlett Johansson couldn’t turn down: “I don’t know what selling out means”
One of the most impressive things about Scarlett Johansson is that she seems just as comfortable in a box office-topping blockbuster as she does in a small indie piece. To many, she is simply Black Widow, one of the key components of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, she has also thrown herself into more obscure projects, such as Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin and Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
She clearly has a great respect for the acting profession, however, she also clearly doesn’t mind taking a payday either. In her recent post-Marvel years, ScarJo has lent her voice to the animated film Transformers One and is set to appear in Jurassic World Rebirth, a reboot of the brain cell-destroying dinosaur series. Is there anything she won’t do? Well, apart from get Instagram.
Speaking of ‘Transformers’, and whilst Johansson never appeared in any of the live-action monstrosities, she did team up with Michael Bay for a different project. In 2005, she starred opposite Ewan McGregor in The Island. McGregor’s character, Lincoln Six Echo, lives in a seemingly-perfect isolated community, where he finds himself a pariah. Things change when he discovers the true nature of the colony, which leads to him and his love interest Jordan Two Delta (Johansson) leading a fight to expose the truth.
At this point in time, Bay hadn’t completely soured his reputation. He was still riding high off the success of The Rock and the first two ‘Bad Boys’ movies, although Pearl Harbour had come out just four years earlier. Even so, in Johansson’s eyes, The Island was something she had to do. “”I couldn’t pass up the opportunity,” she told Esquire. “Different projects bring different things to you. I mean, I don’t have a game plan for myself, and I don’t want people to see me in any particular way. A lot of people have asked me if I was selling out, but I don’t really know what selling out means. When I think of somebody selling out, I think of a politician saying he’ll do one thing and then breaking his promise. I don’t think you can sell out creatively. You just do what you think will fit, when and where.”
Johansson’s Marvel debut in Iron Man 2 was still five years away when The Island was released. At this stage of her career, she was still mostly known for making smaller, more considerate pieces. This was a Johansson who was best known for things like Girl with a Pearl Earring, A Good Woman, and Lost in Translation. Although, she had made Eight Legged Freaks by this point, so she obviously wasn’t taking herself too seriously.
The Island was the first indicator that Johansson was willing to put her reputation on the line to star in bigger, more popular movies. She even requested to appear in a scene topless, but Bay turned her down. Wow, a scene that was too smutty even for Michael Bay. We never thought we’d see the day.
Ultimately, this decision turned out perfectly fine. Johansson now has the best of both worlds, the ability to dip in and out of the popular movie scene and do things with the likes of Wes Anderson whenever she wants to. It was a bit of a risk at the time, but it has paid off massively.
