Scarlett Johansson explains how her ‘Black Widow’ character moved away from ‘hyper-đ eđ„ualization’ of early MCU films
Itâs a sunny day at London’s Pinewood in September, 2019. Weâre still months away from the global pandemic that would repeatedly delay Black Widowâs release, so Florence Pugh â dressed in her character Yelena’s white jumpsuit â has absolutely no qualms about sharing her Reeceâs Pieces with the gang of journalists â including Yahoo â crammed into a small press tent.
When Scarlett Johansson joins the group, sheâs slightly more sombre, decked out in Black Widowâs iconic black costume, which seems to match her more serious vibe. She understands the significance of discussing the first standalone movie to focus on the MCU’s first female superhero. Sheâs waited a long time for this moment, and so have the fans.
Yahoo spoke to Scarlett Johansson during the production of Black Widow in 2019 (Marvel Studios)
Johansson has done the MCU press circuit for a decade and â in that period â Yahoo has encountered her in the same lighthearted mood as Pugh many times. But sheâs older now, more experienced. She has more to say about this one. And this film has a lot more to say about her character Natasha Romanoff, too.
After Jon Favreau (Iron Man 2), Joss Whedon (The Avengers/Avengers: Age of Ultron), The Russo Brothers (Captain America: The Winter Soldier/Captain America: Civil War/Avengers: Infinity War/Avengers: Endgame) indie filmmaker Cate Shortland will be the first female director Scarlett Johansson has worked with during her eight major Marvel movie appearances.Florence Pugh, Cate Shortland, and Scarlett Johansson put their heads together on the set of Black Widow (Marvel Studios)
âItâs been interesting to discover it with each director that Iâve worked with, and what they see â what theyâre interested in, and what side they wanna uncover,â Johansson explains.
âWith Cate itâs been so liberating, because sheâs not afraid of any of the ugliness or what is perceived to be ugliness, the embarrassing, uncomfortable parts, like the soft underbelly, all that. Thatâs what she wants to make movies about. I hope youâll see Natasha in her real true strength in this film more than ever before. And I think Cate will bring that out too.”
âWhen you find her in the beginning of the film, sheâs just broke,” Johansson adds. “By the end of the film, the goal is to put her back together, but different than before. At the very, very beginning of this we all agreed it was clear that this was best place to start in the timeline, because it gave us a lot of grit and every possibility.”
These are the major revelations about Black Widow that we learned from Johanasson and Pugh on the film’s London set.
Why Black Widow takes place post-Civil War
Spoiler alert: Johansson’s Black Widow didn’t make it to the end of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. Having heroically sacrificed herself on Vormir in order to secure the Soul Stone for the Avengers’ final battle with Thanos, Marvel Studios had to do some creative time-hopping for Johansson’s long-awaited Black Widow solo film.
Rather than doing the obvious thing and taking us back to explore Natasha’s story pre-Iron Man 2, the studio settled on focussing on her exploits in the wake of 2016’s Captain America: Civil War.
âPost-Civil War felt like a good time to start,” Johansson said. “I never wanted to do an origin story, because I wanted it to move forward, even though we are going back⊠Itâll all make sense when you see itâScarlett Johnasson and Florence Pugh preparing for a VFX scene on Black Widow (Marvel Studios)
One of the main reason, she explains, is because it gives fans the chance to finally see Natasha in her natural element: in the field, operating on her own terms.
âNatashaâs always been a part of some operation, sheâs always had some safety net. Sheâs actually never really had to â for better or worse â make any decisions for herself. And whether it was the Red Room, or S.H.I.E.L.D., or the Avengers, sheâs had this family, for better or worse.âScarlett Johansson with Jeremy Renner in Avengers: Endgame (Marvel Studios)
The events of Civil War saw Natasha initially on the side of Tony Stark, in favor of Sokovia Accords, until the climatic airport battle during which she switched sides, allowing Captain America (Chris Evans) and Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) to escape. This decision forced her into exile, which is where Black Widow will pick up her story.
âAfter Civil War, itâs all gone, everything is gone, and sheâs â for the first time ever, really â just on her own,” Johansson adds.
âObviously sheâs very self-sufficient and she has connections everywhere… but sheâs on the lam, and sheâs feeling like a fugitive. It gave us a really interesting place to start. All the pieces are everywhere, how do we connect everything back together?âNatasha comes face to face with other Red Room assassins (Marvel Studios)
âWe always said that if the Avengers were like ‘above’ and then, letâs say all the villainous characters were ‘below’ – there was some dark underground thing, either it was the Leviathan, or the Red Room… All that stuff was below.
“The most interesting thing about Natasha as a character is she can go between the two worlds, seamlessly, and her allegiance is not always so clear. She doesnât operate with the same moral compass, that grey area was a cool place to live.â
Black Widow couldn’t have been made 10 years ago
Scarlett Johansson and Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man 2 (Marvel Studios/Paramount)
Scarlett Johansson made her Marvel debut in 2010’s Iron Man 2. It was the third film in the burgeoning Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the franchise was still finding its feet, thematically and tonally, but its introduction of Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff â working for S.H.I.E.L.D. undercover as Tony Stark’s new PA â already feels incredibly dated.
âYou look back at Iron Man 2 and, while it was really fun and had a lotta great moments in it, the character is so đ eđ„ualized,” Johansson says. “[Sheâs] talked about like she is like a piece of something, like a possession, or a piece of a**, really. And I think Tony even refers to her as something along those lines.â
âIâll say âpiece of meatâ so thatâs more palatable,” she laughs. “But maybe at that time, maybe that actually felt like a compliment. You know what I mean? Because my thinking was different. Maybe my own self-worth was probably measured against that type of comment more, like a lot of young women probably feel.âScarlett Johnasson as Natasha Romanoff in a new look at Black Widow (Marvel Studios)
âAnd then you come into your own and you understand your own self-worth. Itâs changing now. I think a lot of young girls are getting a much more positive message. But itâs been incredible to be a part of that shift and be able to come out the other side and not just be a part of that old story but actually evolve. Itâs pretty cool.â
Despite the questionable framing of Natasha in that film, her acrobatic debut made her an instant fan favorite, with many calling for her own film in the MCU. However, Johansson is glad it took so long for Marvel Studios to get round to making it.
âThis movie would’ve been so different if we made it ten years ago. It was another time. I think we can all agree on that,â Johansson says.Rachel Weisz, Scarlett Johnasson and Florence Pugh in Black Widow (Marvel Studios)
âIâve had a lot of people ask me why we didn’t do it before now, but in some ways Iâm actually very thankful that itâs happening now, because we can actually make a movie thatâs about real stuff. Audiences want that. I think they always wanted that, but now the studioâs kinda caught up to that. Itâs fine, itâs late in the game, but itâs all good. Better late than never.
âObviously ten years have passed and so much has happened. Iâll be 35 years old, Iâm a mom, and my life is different. I have a more evolved understanding of myself as a woman. Iâm in a different place in my life. And I feel more forgiving of myself as a woman. Sometimes probably not enough, but Iâm more accepting of myself, I think. And all of that is related to that move away from the kind of hyper-đ eđ„ualization of this character.â
Source:https://uk.movies.yahoo.com