Scarlett Johansson Likes Weird

By: Marc Shapiro
Date: Sunday, July 21, 2002

When Scarlett Johansson was a mere child, her mother would feed her a steady diet of things like ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN, THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN and THE CRAWLING EYE. When she got into the acting business, her first jobs of any consequence were in the loopy THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE and GHOST WORLD. Do you see a pattern here?



"I like weird stuff," says Johansson, who is continuing this slightly off kilter trend as a daughter in distress in the giant spider invasion flick EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS. "I like David Lynch. I like Woody Allen. I like early Tom Cruise. I'd love to work with Tim Burton."

Johansson is a spirited, somewhat flighty actress. Just recently out of high school, a lot of the film biz is just a kind of flakey joke. A lot of which comes out in her conversation regarding EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS.

"I think I took this role because it was wild and crazy," she says. "I had never really done special effects before so it seemed like a good idea. To me it all seemed easy and a lot of fun."

Needless to say, the actress did not find herself doing a lot of research to play the role of Ashley, the daughter of small town sheriff Sam Parker (Kari Wuhrer). "People have asked me if I did any research for this. And I'm like, 'What the f--k? Are you kidding me?' What I was thinking most of the time was, 'Giant spider! Giant spider! Fear. Fear.' It was like the toughest thing was getting my eyes to go wider."

The actress laughingly recalls that the most challenging and, by association, the most uncomfortable moments on EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS came when she was enveloped in giant spider webbing.



"It was awful! It was smelly and sticky and gross. At first people seemed to be somewhat concerned that I was caught up in all this stuff. But after a while they just went about their business. They couldn't move me easily so I would just sit there and, every once in a while, someone would ask me if I needed anything and I'd be like, 'I can't move and I can't do anything so I don't need anything.' Every once in a while, as a treat, they would let my arm drop."


The actress flits around her other genre and quasi genre credits. Her memories of GHOST WORLD are "that it was great." She explains away the rather explicit nature of THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE as, "Yes, it was pretty sexual but I'm not going to pretend I'm an asexual being. The whole thing was tastefully done so what the hell."

Scarlett Johansson began her acting career at age eight in the off Broadway production of SOPHISTRY opposite Ethan Hawke. She made her film debut in the film NORTH. She went on to receive accolades for her performance in the films WHEN LUCY FELL, THE HORSE WHISPERER and MANNY & LO. Throughout her short but productive career, her attitude has been wise beyond her years.

"Whatever you do, don't go into acting for the fame because you're gonna end up unhappy," she once said. "And I don't think you can become an actress. You are an actress."

Johansson, who currently resides in New York, is contemplating higher education in film school with an eye toward directing and writing at some point. But she is currently on hiatus from higher education.



"It's basically going to be a semester by semester situation," she explains. "I figure I can take a couple of roles a year, probably in the summer, or maybe just take a semester. I'm not in any hurry so it will probably take like 12 years to finish up but I'm sure I'll get there."

One thing she will not be doing is the latest film by her GHOST WORLD director Terry Zwigoff, who is helming a fantasy with Billy Bob Thornton. "I tried to get a part in this movie that Terry was shooting with Billy Bob playing some kind of elf. But Terry was like, 'You have to lose two feet and grow a penis.' So what are the odds I'll get that part."

Johansson recently wrapped up work on a film in Japan with Bill Murray (ROADSHOW). And while she is once again devoid of anecdotes, her response is typical of the places her acting career is taking her.

"Working with Bill Murray? I don't know. It's a little strange."

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