Scarlett Johansson: I was ‘groomed’ to play provocative roles when young
Scarlett Johansson claims her old management team “groomed” her into taking on “bombshell” roles at the start of her acting career.
“I kind of became, like, an ingénue,” the “Black Widow” star, 38, said on iHeartRadio’s “Table for Two” podcast with Bruce Bozzi on Tuesday.
“Young girls like that are really objectified, and that’s just a fact, so I think whatever box they’re put into, it sort of sets you on this trajectory for how your life will go. Now, obviously women really are able more now to choose their own path.”
Johansson said around the time she was in her late teens, she began to come into her own womanhood and began flirting with her own “desirability and sexuality” — which didn’t necessarily help her get out of being typecast.
“I think because of that trajectory that I had been sort of launched towards, I really got stuck in this,” she said.
The “Black Dahlia” star continued, “I was kind of being groomed in a way to be this what you call this bombshell type of actor. I was playing the other woman and this object of desire and, you know, I suddenly found myself cornered in this place, like, I couldn’t get out of it.”
Johansson said she quickly realized that choosing roles centered around her appearance had a short life-span.
“I think for that kind of bombshell [role] that burns bright and quick, and then you don’t have much opportunity beyond that, and I just felt like I was burning out so quickly,” the “Nanny Diaries” star added.
Johansson also opened up about how at age 17, she had a “really hard time” filming “Lost in Translation” with Bill Murray.
“Our characters have this … profound relationship and that was hard for me to .. I struggled with that for different reasons,” she said, adding, “When I came out of it, it was like this weird fever dream.”
The now mother of two — who shares 8-year-old daughter Rose with ex-husband Romain Dauriac and 1-year-old son Cosmo with husband Colin Jost — explained how having children has impacted the kind of work she takes on.
Johansson said, “I think that’s an important lesson to teach girls and boys — to pursue work that is satisfying.