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SCARLETT
JOHANSSON IS HOLLYWOOD’S LATEST "IT" GIRL... AND, SURPRISE,
SHE CAN ACT.
BY ANGELA BALDASSARRE
There’s little question that Scarlett Johansson is the
"it" girl of the moment. Reeling from the stellar reviews
she received for her work as Charlotte in Sofia Coppola’s independent
feature Lost in Translation, and as Griet in Peter Webber’s
Girl With a Pearl Earring, the 19-year-old actress is the talk
of Tinsel Town. She also made Golden Globe history earlier this year
by being nominated as best actress for both films.
"It’s kind of overwhelming, and it’s
hard to keep grounded," said Johansson when she was in Toronto
last fall. "My family, my friends make sure I don’t go off
the deep end. But I’ve been in work mode and I suppose that prevents
me for going into Hollywood starlet mode."
Indeed. Johansson has been working relentlessly for
two years. She was on the set of The Perfect Score when she heard
that casting was taking place for Girl. "I went in for a
reading and didn’t have the part yet," she recalls. "The
minute I read the script, I wanted the part. Peter [Webber] came to
Vancouver where I was filming The Perfect Score and pretty much
begged me to do the role. He says that he came crawling across a floor
of gravel with weights on his feet and asked me to do the part!"
But the teenager had already committed to Lost
In Translation, which meant that only two weeks after shooting wrapped
in Tokyo, she had to fly to Luxembourg for Girl. "I was
exhausted," she smiles. "I was so emotionally vulnerable that
I figured that I would stay that way, which I did for another couple
of months. It hasn’t always been this crazy, but there has been
very little time in my life where I haven’t been promoting or filming
something."
Despite the workload, Johansson insists she has no
regrets shooting both films back to back. "I really need a vacation,
but it has been so wonderful to feel recognized when you put your hard
work into something," she admits. "And I have two films out
this year that I am really proud of and that I really worked hard on.
So I’m just trying to keep my head on straight."
But celebrity is catching up with the young star.
Earlier this year American fashion house Calvin Klein signed Johansson
to represent their new fragrance that will hit the market in the fall.
"Just when I thought things couldn’t get better, something
like this happens. Being associated with Calvin Klein is a real thrill,"
Johansson said at the time.
But while fashion-conscious Scarlett no doubt sees
this as a great opportunity, she never expected a public grilling from
her new employers. It seems that executives at Calvin Klein were angry
because their new spokesperson wore a dress by another designer to the
Golden Globes. Although Scarlett wasn’t obligated to wear their
clothes, Calvin Klein bosses reportedly warned her that if she didn’t
wear a Klein frock to the Oscars, there would be consequences. Not one
to be intimidated, Johansson wore a gorgeous poison-green satin Alberta
Ferretti gown instead.
And what of her love life? Gossip magazines can’t
get enough of the teenager’s steamy dalliance with 36-year-old
actor Benicio Del Toro. It seemed the two were so smitten with each
other at a pre-Oscars party, they didn’t care about being spotted
"with their arms all over each other."
While her acting career is on the upswing, the young
star has her eyes set on working behind the camera as well. More than
one director has commented on her interest in the technical details
of the movie she was making. "Definitely. On Girl With A Pearl
Earring, for example, I was there every day, in every scene. I got
there before the crew and I left after them at night," she says.
"I knew every detail of what was happening in that film. I guess
because I want to be a director I’m always asking things like ‘what
are you doing with that light?’"
A native of New York, where she was born on November
22, 1984, Johansson was raised – along with her twin brother –
as the youngest of four children. She developed an interest in acting
at age three. After being enrolled in classes at the Lee Strasberg Theatre
Institute For Young People, she made her stage debut at age eight opposite
Ethan Hawke in the off-Broadway production of Sophistry. Her
film debut followed in 1994 with a supporting role in North.
She subsequently appeared in the little-seen Just Cause (1995)
and If Lucy Fell (1996).
International attention would come her way with the
release of Robert Redford’s The Horse Whisperer when she
was just 13. Although the film met with mixed reviews, Johansson was
widely praised for her portrayal of a girl who loses her leg and her
best friend in a horrific accident. Over the past few years the teenager
has been seen in the Coen Brothers’ The Man Who Wasn't There
with Billy Bob Thornton; won the Independent Spirit award in 1996 for
her role as one of two orphaned teen sisters in Manny & Lo;
starred in Terry Zwigoff’s cult classic Ghost World alongside
Thora Birch; and has at least four more movies in the works including
Brian De Palma’s adaptation of James Ellroy’s novel The
Black Dahlia with Mark Wahlberg and Josh Hartnett.
"The director, the actors, the script are all
things I look at when I take on a role," says Scarlett. "But
you’re going to be sacrificing so much time to make a movie, time
you could otherwise spend watching Rikki Lake and eating doughnuts,
so the most important thing is, is it going to be a nice, fun experience?
I know that sounds kind of simple but it’s true."
What Johansson does not find "fun" are the
constant comparisons to Lauren Bacall. One can’t fault that deep,
husky voice. "It’s just the way it is," she sighs. "I
mean, what do you do? It’s your voice. Somebody said today, ‘What
does it make you feel like when people say you have this sexy voice?’
Well, it’s nice that people think a part of you is sexy or interesting
or different – that’s flattering – but I really didn’t
do anything. My parents’ DNA just made it."
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