Scarlett Johansson claims “life has humbled” her ‘Lost In Translation’ co-star Bill Murray
Scarlett Johansson has reflected on working with Bill Murray on Lost In Translation, who she says “life has humbled” in recent years.
In Lost in Translation, Johansson played Charlotte, a college graduate living in Tokyo, who befriends Murray’s character Bob, a Hollywood actor whose glory years are behind him, both personally and professionally.
Johansson was only 17 when she was cast in the movie, thrusting her into the limelight. However, now, in a new interview, the American actor has said that it led to many years of being pigeon-holed into a box as “a sex object” and explained why Murray was difficult to work with.
She told Vanity Fair: “After Lost in Translation, every role that I was offered for years was ‘the girlfriend,’ ‘the other woman,’ a sex object — I couldn’t get out of the cycle. It sort of felt like, ‘Oh, I guess this is my identity now as an actor.’ There wasn’t much I could do with that.”
Johansson then explained why she felt the industry was exploiting her following the success of the film, stating, “You’re wearing the clothes you want, you’re expressing yourself, then you suddenly turn around and you’re like, ‘Wait, I feel like I’m being’ — I don’t want to say exploited because it’s such a severe word. That term is so heavy, but yeah, it was a kind of an exploitation.”
On Murray, Johansson said he was “in a hard place” during the making of the film, which had repercussions on set. She shared, “Everybody was on tenterhooks around him, including our director and the full crew, because he was dealing with his… stuff.”
The pair recently met again at SNL50 and Johansson praised Murray, saying, “He’s such a different person now. I think life has humbled him.”
She continued: “Life — all these things have led up to him being held accountable for that kind of behavior. But you know what? How wonderful that people can change.”
Never Miss A Scene
The Far Out Film Newsletter
All the latest film news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.