SCARLETT JOHANSSON - SUPERSTAR RISING
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by Harold von Kursk
TORONTO - Seldom is it this easy to spot a future
Hollywood star, but Scarlett Johansson is already well
on her way down the road of fame and fortune. At 18,
the fair-haired buxom beauty has created a sensation
with her touching and vulnerable performance in LOST
IN TRANSLATION, the charming romantic comedy directed
by Sofia Coppola (VIRGIN SUICIDES), the daughter of
that other famous Coppola. Johansson co-stars with
Bill Murray as a pair of lost souls who find a measure
of solace in each other's company at a luxury hotel in
downtown Tokyo. Shooting the film in 27 days is a
brisk pace by most standards, although Johansson
experienced far more stress in adapting to the
occasionally odd cultural customs of the Japanese.
"It was very overwhelming, a bit of a sensory
overload," explains Johansson. "Everything was so
different there, it's like getting off the plane and
stepping onto this other planet. Shooting the film was
also kind of an adventure, because the crew was mainly
Japanese and sometimes Sofia's instructions would get
scrambled! There was also the time that the Yakuza
(Japanese mobsters - ED) tried to blackmail the crew
for money because we were shooting on their turf. So
we had to leave right away. It was sort of exciting to
think that we were kicked out of a location by the
Yakuza!"
LOST IN TRANSLATION features Johansson as Charlotte, a
vaguely snobbish philosophy graduate from Yale who is
accompanying her MTV-cultured fashion photographer
husband (Giovanni Ribisi) on a shoot in Japan. Staying
at a posh Tokyo hotel whose stark, imposing
architecture merely amplifies her anguish after her
husband goes to Kyoto on business, Charlotte crosses
paths with Bob Harris (Murray), a fading TV star who
has just arrived at the hotel to begin shooting a
Suntory whiskey commercial.
Charlotte is confused and confounded by the prospect
of having to decide what to do with her life; Bob is
worried that his life may well have passed him by.
Thereafter develops an intriguing relationship between
the oddly-matched couple, as Charlotte's sad beauty
proves something of an elixir to Bob's melancholy
ennui. While his wife nags him via long distance
phone calls and faxes, Charlotte invites him out on
the town and they strike up a fast friendship that is
subtly romantic despite their difficulty in
communicating.
In person, however, Scarlett Johansson has no problem
whatsoever in expressing herself. She is voluble,
excitable, and vivacious, and somewhat thinner and
prettier in person and now wearing short blonde hair
as opposed to Charlotte's brown tresses. Though most
audiences wouldn't recognise her, Johanssonn is
something of a film veteran, having played important
roles in Robert Redford's THE HORSE WHISPERER (the
girl who lost her leg in a riding accident), GHOST
WORLD, and in the Coen brothers' THE MAN WHO WASN'T
THERE. In addition to LOST IN TRANSLATION, Johansson
will soon be seen in GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING,
co-starring Colin Firth. She's just finished shooting
a film in New Orleans with John Travolta, and there
are at least three more already lined up for her over
the coming year. A native New Yorker of Danish
descent, Johanssen now lives in L.A. and has already
become part of the local glitterati circuit, hanging
out with the mega-rich and mega-party girl Hilton
sisters much of the time.
I spoke to Johansson in Toronto recently where she was
one of great discoveries if not the "It" girl of the
festival. "It looks so beautiful here," she says in
her husky voice, as she curls up in an armchair
clutching a Hello, Kitty pillow to her chest. "I flew
in and it looks like the city of the future or
something."
THE INTERVIEW
Q: LOST IN TRANSLATION basically features you and Bill
Murray in virtually every scene. What was your
attitude towards working with an established actor
like that so closely?
JOHANSSON: It's fun when you work with somebody who
has a great background behind them, and you respect
their work. It's an honour and it enables you to just
have a good time. Instead of being intimidated, you go
with it and you create beautiful music and have a good
time.
That's why I feel so important to be able to just sit
down on a couch with Bill and say, `Hmmm, let's make
another movie together. What can we do? What can we
have fun with?'
Q: You've been making films virtually non-stop the
last year. Is it exhausting at times?
JOHANSSON: Sometimes you can get physically tired, but
usually it's exciting to go from one film set and one
family of actors and crew people to another. I've
just finished making a movie with John Travolta (A
Love Song For Bobby Long) in New Orleans and the two
of us are so excited to be in a film together. We just
work well together. We gel. We bring good stuff out of
each other. We make each other feel like it's a big
shindig.
It was also interesting going out on the town in New
Orleans once in a while, although a lot of the night
life is about giant glasses of beer and "bottomless
dancers guaranteed."
Q: Most people have commented on how you and Bill
Murray's characters develop such a bittersweet
relationship. How did you approach your role?
JOHANSSON: Before we started filming, Sofia (Coppola)
told me that these two people were lost and that they
found themselves in each other and that that was the
basic theme of the film. Though Sofia was inspired to
write the story based on her own experience travelling
in Japan after she graduated university, I didn't try
to play her in any specific sense. It was more
important to bring out the sentiment of feeling alone,
not knowing what to do with one's life, and basically
feeling alienated in life. That was the kind of
mindset I brought to Charlotte.
Q: In the role of Bob, Bill Murray has a gentle
admiration and respect for Charlotte in the film, as
well as being attracted to her. How did he behave
towards you off the set?
JOHANSSON: Bill resembles Bob in terms of his
sarcastic side. He also loves to make jokes, make
funny observations, and put on a show from time to
time. We didn't become friends though. We put
everything we had into the relationship between our
characters and kind of left it at that level.
Q: You've been an actor almost from childhood. Was
acting always your ambition?
JOHANSSON: Yes. I had a pretty strong will as a child
and I always knew that I wanted to act and that I
wanted to pursue that as a career. I don't even like
to think of acting as a "career" because the word
sounds so boring and confining. Acting is all about
passion for me, and I love the experience so much that
it's not really work as much as doing something I've
always loved to do and wanted as a life for myself. So
everything that's happening to me now is part of a
continuing dream coming true.
Q: Is acting something which always came easily to
you?
JOHANSSON: Yes. I'm a very instinctive actor. It's all
about manipulating your emotions, which is a really
bizarre line of work if you think about it, and which
probably explains why so many actors go off the deep
end.
Q: Are you already speculating on how your life and
attitudes might get warped as you move higher up the
celebrity and stardom ladder?
JOHANSSON: I'm fairly outspoken and direct so I know
that I'm not going to turn into some so-called
celebrity who turns out manufactured quotes. I think
I'll always be a bit provocative when it comes to what
I think. Sometimes that might get me in trouble, but
I'd rather be open and honest than someone who has to
constantly play up to a certain image.
My main goals are to find interesting work and not
worry about money or how big a star I can become. I'm
still figuring all that out but I've been involved in
this business long enough to know the traps you should
avoid. I just don't want to turn into a plastic
celebrity kind of actor who's always smiling in this
stupid, empty way to look cool and sexy. I'd like
there always to be something of me showing through
whenever I'm photographed or doing an interview. I
don't ever want to get to the point where I'm
programming myself and just playing the star game.
Q: There are many quiet and reflective moments in LOST
IN TRANSLATION. Did the experience of playing
Charlotte make you more reflective about your own
life?
JOHANSSON: It was very easy to approach that side of
the character because those feelings of loneliness and
melancholy are part of me and probably part of most
adolescents. I'm a pretty energetic and positive
person - a lot of my friends would probably say I'm
obnoxious and loud (laughs) - but obviously I
understand and empathise with depressive moods and
those days where you're feeling bummed out.
Q: One of the best scenes in the film and one which
has already made a huge impression on critics and
festival audiences is when Bill Murray's character
runs to say good-bye to you on a crowded Tokyo street
which is largely silent. You both look so sad. What
did Murray say to you during that scene?
JOHANSSON: It was a difficult scene for me because
Charlotte realises that she can't be with him and that
even though they've fallen in love with each other in
some way, they can't be together. Bill said a lot of
strange and silly things and it affected me in a very
deep way. I felt very sad and I wasn't expecting be so
overcome by my own emotions at that moment. But it
worked.
Q: You have another film coming out soon, The Girl
With A Pearl Earring, set in the Netherlands of the
17th century, where you plays a timid maid who becomes
the muse of the famed painter Johannes Vermeer. That's
a role completely different from anything else you've
done thus far. Is it easy for you to slip in and out
of roles?
JOHANSSON: I'm an actor who is playing with whatever
limitation I have, whatever I've been given. I'm just
taking it as it comes. I wouldn't say I had to change
my `style.' It's not like being a musician who plays
in different ways ... It's about playing characters
who are believable, even if they're unusual
characters.
Q: Are you often affected by your characters'
feelings while you're making a movie?
JOHANSSON: It depends on the scene. I remember
working on GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING and my character
Griet falls in love, at least platonically, with
Vermeer, with his whole being and genius. And there's
this scene where Griet is watching Vermeer stroking
his wife's hair and kissing her. I started crying
afterwards because I was so heartbroken and sad in the
moment and space where my character was. That's the
danger of being an actor where you're keeping yourself
so open and vulnerable and yet you still need to be
able to distance yourself from your character or you'd
fall apart.
Q: One of the odd things about some of your past films
is that you often play young women who are always on
the verge of a deeper, sexual relationship, but are
somehow frustrated in that regard.
JOHANSSON: (Laughs) I never really thought about it
like that. I don't read scripts and say, `Oh, she
doesn't have sex in this, so it's okay by me.' I'm a
very open person, and I'm very comfortable with my own
sexuality, so it's not that I need the repression in
projects I do.
I guess it's by the will of whomever. It just kind of
works out that way. I would have no problems playing a
love scene if that's what's called for or being naked
as long as it's part of a serious film and justified
by the story.
Q: You've already spoken of the Yakuza experience
while shooting LOST IN TRANSLATION. Do you have any
other strange memories of your experience in Japan?
JOHANSSON: My mother and I went to a retreat in Kyoto
where we were abused by these old geisha ladies. I
arrived at the hotel/spa or whatever it was, and the
first thing I know somebody is undressing me and it's
an old Japanese lady in a kimono. It was very weird. I
didn't know what she was doing and she was wrapping me
up in this fabric. And then they came into our room
and my mom sleeps naked so she was mortified. At 8:30
in the morning, it was like (she performs the Reveille
trumpet call) and these women come in rolling us out
of bed and rolling our beds up! It was terrible!
Q: You've already had a fairly interesting run thus
far in the movies. How do you feel about your work
thus far?
JOHANSSON: My whole career I've gotten those offers
for the girl who has muscular dystrophy who becomes a
cheerleader and then becomes the prom queen and she
goes from being ugly to beautiful and starts to work
in Rwanda for charity. I've tried my best never to do
those kinds of films.
I like to make movies that I would like to see. Not
that it's not nice to make a big chunk of money, but
there's other factors that go into the projects, like
will this be fulfilling and what other kind of people
are going to be involved in this? And most of all, is
this going to be a fun experience for me? Acting means
so much to me that I never want to feel like I'm doing
something just as a job to fill some time or earn big
money. I want it to mean something. That's one thing
I know will always make me happy.
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