Scarlett Johansson reveals how she fought her way out of the Hollywood 'sex symbol' box: 'I was cast for my desirability - that's shifted'

Daily Mail​

18 hours ago

Scarlett Johansson has revealed how she fought her way out of the Hollywood 'sex symbol' box, saying she was once cast purely for her looks.
The Black Widow star, now 40, says that after rising to fame in Lost in Translation, she was constantly offered roles that only valued her for her 'desirability', something she says has finally started to shift.
She told The Sunday Times: 'When I was younger, a lot of the roles I was offered, or I went for, had their ambitions or character arcs revolving around their own desirability, or the male gaze, or a male-centred story. That is less frequent, though something has shifted.'
Scarlett added that it is different for young women now as not only has the messaging changed, but there are more visible role models and women in powerful positions.
The shift hasn't just been in her scripts, it's in Scarlett's whole career.
The two-time Oscar nominee has gone from playing the sexy love interest in rom-coms like He's Just Not That Into You, to hard-hitting parts in Marriage Story, Under the Skin, and a Marvel franchise that helped her become the highest-grossing actress of all time, with over $14 billion at the box office.
Despite once being typecast, Scarlett refused to play the game. She revealed that she turned down roles she found 'deeply unfulfilling' and waited for parts that let her prove herself as more than just eye candy, even though she felt like she could become 'irrelevant' at 'any moment'.
Revealing she had to practice patience to find her big break, she said: 'I just waited. I had to become comfortable with the idea that it could take some time. Which is hard when you're a young actor, but at that time I didn't have any children.'
But her tenacity paid off. Scarlett made her directing debut this year with Eleanor the Great, a drama inspired by her Jewish ancestors and their experience fleeing Poland and Russia. The film, which premiered at Cannes, earned a glowing four-star review from The Times.
Off-screen, Scarlett is now a mum of two to Rose, 10, with ex-husband Romain Dauriac, and Cosmo, three, with Saturday Night Live star Colin Jost.
Scarlett is now set to star in the upcoming summer blockbuster Jurassic World: Rebirth, which hits cinemas on July 2 and promises to be the blockbuster event of the summer.
Starring alongside Scarlett is Wicked and Bridgerton's Jonathan Bailey.
The second trailer for the upcoming flick begins with Scarlett who stars as skilled covert operations expert, Zora Bennett.
She can be heard warning the others as they head to the tropical island, the site of previous films.
Despite once being typecast, Scarlett refused to play the game and revealed how she turned down roles she found 'deeply unfulfilling' (pictured in Marriage Story with Adam Driver as Charlie in 2019)
'The theme park owners did experimental work,' she says. 'Leaving only the worst ones here.'
For the top-secret mission, they must safely obtain and bring back the genetic material of the most dangerous and largest dinosaurs the world has ever seen, made even more ferocious after the previous Jurassic Park scientists experimented on them.
The group are seen traveling by boat and arriving at the island, only to be first greeted by a bone-chilling roar in the distance, as they prepared to face off 'the worst of the worst dinosaurs left here,' as seen in text that flashes quickly across the screen.
'We've put ourselves in a place where we don't belong,' Bailey as Dr. Henry Loomis even says to her at one point. 'Survival is a long shot.'
She replies: 'That's kind of our specialty.'
The movie is set half a decade after the 2022 Jurassic World Dominion movie, which starred Bryce Dallas Howard alongside Chris Pratt, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill among many more in the all-star cast.
The synopsis of the movie reads: 'Five years after the events of Jurassic World Dominion, the planet's ecology has proven largely inhospitable to dinosaurs.
'Those remaining exist in isolated equatorial environments with climates resembling the one in which they once thrived,' the summary continues.
'The three most colossal creatures within that tropical biosphere hold the key to a drug that will bring miraculous life-saving benefits to humankind.'
The star-studded cast also includes Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Luna Blaise, David Iacono, Audrina Miranda, Philippine Velge, Bechir Sylvain, Ed Skrein and many more.
The newest and latest franchise film was directed by Gareth Edwards.