Scarlett Johansson, director of debut director Eleanor the Great, had to tackle a character far from the role she played as an actress.
“I had that kind of sympathy for that character, so I would have played her,” Johansson said in an interview at the Variety Toronto Film Festival studio. “It’s rare to send a script like this, a tiny gem, to you. It really doesn’t happen in rare cases.”
The Sony Pictures Classics film, starring the 95-year-old June Squibb as the prestigious protagonist, will have its North American premiere at TIFF on September 8th, following its flashy debut at the Cannes Film Festival in May. It shows late career achievements for Squibb, who usually plays a supporting role, as did on his Oscar-nominated turn in “Nebraska.”
“She has a huge, decisive power,” Squib said of Johansson’s ability to bring out memorable performances. “She decides things right away. It’s a great help for the actor. And her ability to make you do your job. It’s a really joy to do the job, a feeling that you’re not being pushed, someone who knows where you go and what you’re doing.”
Written by Tory Camen, “Eleanor the Great” gathered for Johansson after she rose to her famous Disney over her “Black Widow” contract. When asked if “Eleanor the Great” represented a pioneering power from the studio system, she said she wasn’t that sure.
“It was really a business problem and it was resolved,” she said. “Hopefully it’s better for everyone. So it’s a good thing. …This was about the love of films, a character-driven portrait of complicated people.”
Johansson praised the director’s instincts in his experience with Robert Redford, who directed her in “The Horse Whisperer” at the age of 13. “I knew I was getting more from him as an actor. He encouraged discovery. It stayed with me.”
She also cited Jon Favreau, Noah Baumbach and Spike Jonze as inspiration for their ability to balance leadership and their ability to nurture creative exploration in a set.
Erin Kellyman and Chiwetel Ejiofor, who play on the other side of Squibb, have found a director who has clearly observed for decades, saying, “Eleanor the Great. Johansson called his great communicator, what Johansson pointed out was “compassion, patient, communication and all of the best qualities you can imagine.”
With Squibb leading, “Eleanor the Great” overturns Hollywood’s tendency to bystander stories about older women, especially non-Jenarians. Still, Johansson resisted framing the film as a manifesto. “I don’t think every movie has to convey a message,” she said. “You can sit in someone else’s shoes for an hour and forty minutes. That’s enough.”
Having been obsessed with the project for years before Johansson arrived, Squib embraced the opportunity to play a woman with light and shadow. “I loved her because I saw her dark side and less attractive side,” she said. “It’s so real and human.”
Johansson Skeeb’s collaboration has proven to be extremely successful, so the pair want to team up again for “Saturday Night Live.”
“We’ll be playing in New York in June, so we’ll have to steal her on Saturday,” said Johansson, whose husband, Colin Jost, returns to a new season of “SNL.” “We can co-host or we can do ‘weekend updates’ together. ”
