Scarlett Johansson discusses the most difficult aspect of being an actor: “It is so exhausting”
We live in the age of the blockbuster. Movie lovers everywhere are consistently drawn to popcorn movies, as flicks about alien invasions, mass wars, and the end of the world flood our screens and look as though they were happening right in front of us. This is the power of visual effects, and the amount technology has advanced in recent years means these effects look more realistic than ever. That being said, there are some actors who hate using them, such as Scarlett Johansson.
There are several different acting techniques that people like to employ; however, one thing they all have in common is that the real key lies in how you react to your co-stars. You need people around you to bounce off, which is the key to some of the best performances that movie lovers have previously enjoyed.
Special effects can add to the cinema experience for many fans, as they are able to watch something that couldn’t exist in the real world, and it can be a true spectacle at times. However, the means by which these scenes are recorded take away from an actor’s ability to react, and as such, we get subdued performances from people who could offer more.
Scarlett Johansson once spoke with Michael Bay about the difficulties of filming with a lot of special effects. The two worked together on the 2005 film The Island, and both of them found it tough to use special effects to the extent that they did on that film.
“Well, it is funny, the first time I met with Ewan [McGregor] was in New York. The first question he asked, ‘Are you going to do a lot of blue screen?’ I said no, I would actually like to shoot a lot of stuff real and live,” recalled Bay, “We shot two days of blue screen, but I must say Ewan is a very good blue screen actor, he really is. No, seriously, acting with a blue screen is very tough, wouldn’t you say?”
McGregor was probably more used to working with a blue screen because of his experience with the Star Wars prequels, which were heavily CGI. However, given that The Island pre-dated Johansson’s tenure in the Marvel universe, she was still getting used to it and agreed with Bay, saying, “It is so exhausting.”
Bay highlighted the issue that many actors have: they have nothing to draw from when acting using special effects. They lose the ability to react and instead have to imagine what is happening around them. “It is really, really tough,” he said.
“Yeah, it really is,” agreed Johansson, “Especially when you are imagining that you are trying to escape to save your own life and you can hear the grip chewing a sandwich next to you, really it is hard.”
