The “absolutely morbid” movie Scarlett Johansson called her all-time favourite
Scarlett Johansson had an interesting relationship with movies when she was younger, because growing up, she was exposed to anything she wanted, which, although it sounds like a dream, sometimes left her young mind troubled with nightmares.
“My mom always encouraged us to watch a lot of movies,” she once explained. “It traumatised me when I was really little – I’m telling you, she let us watch whatever we wanted. I saw The Silence of the Lambs when I was like, eight. But I think seeing all those movies really helped develop my interest in film.”
Johansson had pushed for her place in the industry after she saw all the attention going to her older brother, wanting to work hard enough that people would regard her as someone who actually had potential. More than that, she wanted to prove herself as someone who was versatile and could extend her talent beyond just random commercials.
As we now know, Johansson’s hard work paid off. Not only is she a certified A-Lister, but she’s also been a major name behind some of the most significant projects in recent years, someone who can quite literally step into the shoes of any character and make it believable and entirely her own. She might have had several setbacks, especially with regard to reputation, but she’s still very much sought-after for her approach to storytelling and emotional nuance.
Once again, this isn’t just a result of her fierce ambition. There’s that, too, but much of Johansson’s success stems from those seminal early days, when she’d sit glued to the screen, being traumatised forever by strange movies she should have wanted at least another ten years before watching. It might’ve been an intense experience, but it made her aware of different storytelling techniques long before most of her peers.
It’s probably no secret, therefore, that Johansson loves films that cross over into different territories. Most of us tend to avoid the strange ones we watch when we’re kids, especially the ones marketed at children, but which are strangely eerie and disturbing when you watch them again as an adult, like, for instance, you probably know someone who absolutely hates The Wizard of Oz for all the same reasons.
The difference with Johansson, however, is that she inexplicably loves them, because while talking about Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, she once said, “I love cheesy movies, that’s my guilty pleasure. I like Willy Wonka, too… That’s probably my favourite movie, I watched Willy Wonka when I was little all the time, but I didn’t realise until recently how absolutely morbid it is.”
It’s easy to see where she’s coming from, because after all, it takes a more mature mind to realise all the parts where the film just seems a little off, or why you might have enjoyed the infamous boat scene as a kid, only to be completely unsettled by it in adulthood. When you’re younger, it seems fun in all its wondrous technicolour, but when you realise there’s much more to it, specifically, to Gene Wilder’s chocolate factory owner, suddenly you see it in a different light.
But that’s also part of its charm. It’s layered, as all the best films are. And there’s also something about films like that that don’t just feel nostalgic, but weirdly comforting, despite their darkness or quirkiness. Wonka might have secrets darker than we’ll ever know, but most of us can probably recognise much of his disillusionment with the world at large and how we’re shaped by things that happened to us in childhood. Johansson certainly was.
