Scarlett Johansson’s topless request that was rejected by Michael Bay for ‘The Island’
There’s no doubt that Scarlett Johansson is one of the most significant actors of her generation. After early roles in North and The Horse Whisperer, Johansson established herself as a prominent Hollywood star with efforts in Lost in Translation, Match Point, Her, Under the Skin and Marriage Story.
One film that might have flown under the radar when it comes to Johansson’s filmography, though, is Michael Bay’s 2005 science fiction action thriller The Island, also starring Ewan McGregor, Djimon Hounsou, Sean Bean and Michael Clarke Duncan alongside Johannson.
Considered something of a pastiche of the dystopian science fiction films of old, The Island tells of a man who finds difficulty in fitting into the organised world in which he lives. When he begins to question its reality, he finds that human clones are being used for organ harvesting for the wealthy and tries to make an escape.
However, Johansson had a problem with The Island and particularly some of Bay’s directing. The film features a sex scene between the actor and her so-star McGregor, and she was handed a black bra to wear to cover herself up so that the film could receive a PG-13 rating as marketed.
Johansson felt that wearing a bra was a ridiculous notion, though, and asked Bay if she could remove it and do the scene topless to give the movie a greater sense of realism. Bay had once discussed Johansson’s opinion of the bra suggestion and noted how the actor had been missing from the scene.
When Bay finally found Johannson, she was waiting in her trailer but had no kind things to say about her wardrobe options. He told Digital Spy: “She’s standing there, and she says, ‘I’m not wearing this cheap… bra. I’m going naked.’ I said, ‘It’s PG-13, you have to wear the bra’.”
The problem for Johansson was that she thought it unrealistic that a woman would be wearing a tight black bra in bed. “Women don’t normally sleep in a bra,” she noted. “I can’t wake up in this scene wearing a bra; it’s ridiculous.”
But, of course, Bay was correct in his assertion that The Island was indeed rated PG-13 and that the movie would have problems being released if Johansson did the scene in the nude. At the same time, the actor is correct in saying that it’s a bit ridiculous for her character to wake up wearing a bra, but that’s the nature of the rules and regulations of the film industry.
