Scarlett Johansson is one of the most renowned actresses in Hollywood, and it is not just because of her incredible acting: Her exceptionally outspoken personality and the habit of willingly taking risks and trying new things just for the sake of it plays a crucial role in her immaculate success.
Backing up this claim is the fact that the Black Widow actress once even signed up for a movie that had no script ready just because it felt like the right thing to do for her, and that same movie ended up scoring six Oscar nominations for several different categories: Scarlett Johansson’s 2019 hit, Marriage Story.
Scarlett Johansson Signed Up For Marriage Story Despite The Film Not Having Any Script
First, a bit of backstory: Scarlett Johansson had once before tried to collaborate with director Noah Baumbach about a decade before signing up for Marriage Story. However, back then, the film just didn’t feel like the right fit for her and that project ended up in the dumps.
Fast forward to a decade later, Baumbach contacted Johansson to try and collaborate with her once again, and this time, the Avengers: Endgame actress agreed despite knowing that there was no script ready. Sharing the same story on the Actors on Actors interview by Variety, she told Chris Evans:
“This project felt like it was something that he wanted to collaborate on, and you almost got the impression that he needed to cast it before he actually wrote it, and that, to me, was exciting. I felt that he was writing for ‘me’ and it was so different than the experience that I had with him a decade earlier.”
Continuing, Chris Evans asked her how much of the script was already on the page prior to signing on for the film. To this, Johansson replied:
“It was not. It was not on the page at all. It was [just] a concept. It was totally an outline, I think.”
While that was a totally bold move for Scarlett Johansson, everything turned out fine as her film with Adam Driver, Marriage Story, ended up with six Academy Awards nominations among other accolades.
Scarlett Johansson Had Personal Input In Marriage Story As Well
Continuing in the Actors on Actors interview by Variety, Chris Evans then went on to ask Scarlett Johansson – since she herself had been through a divorce and knew what it felt like – if there was any personal input given in the film by her as well. To this, The Avengers actress explained:
“I think it was sort of, it was Noah’s intention to meet. Actually, when I received the script, we’d spoken so much about not just our relationships, and what it was like to be single parents or how it was to co-parent. But we also talked a lot about our parents, and our families, and all of that stuff kind of made it in there.”
Furthermore, she credited filmmaker Noah Baumbach for perfectly implementing real-life experiences into the movie.
“When I got the script, I was so surprised by how much love remained between those two people and that there was this… It was a love story told through divorce and as a relationship kind of. Noah often says that, ‘In order to fully understand something, you kind of have to pull it all apart.’ The idea of starting from the end and building the story back up was really interesting to him.”
Johansson then went on to share her perspective as to why the film became such a megahit among the audience and even ended up scoring six Oscar nods for its spectacularity.
“I think that’s why the film has seemingly affected so many audience members is that it is not one thing or another. It’s kind of multi-faceted, and relationships are just complicated, and you can not want to be with somebody but still find them attractive in other ways. It’s complicated, right?”
For what it’s worth, both Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver did a splendid job portraying all the emotions in the utmost immaculate way in Marriage Story, thanks to Noah Baumbach’s outstanding supervision.
