Scarlett Johansson Says She ‘Couldn’t Get Out Of’ Playing ‘Bombshell’ Characters When She Was Younger
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Scarlett Johansson opened up on how she “got stuck” playing “bombshell” roles, in which she claims her old management team “groomed” her into taking at the beginning of her acting career.
“I kind of became, like, an ingénue,” the actress told Bruce Bozzi during Tuesday’s episode of iHeartRadio’s “Table for Two” podcast.
“Young girls like that are really objectified, and that’s just a fact, so I think whatever box they’re put into, it sort of sets you on this trajectory for how your life will go. Now, obviously women really are able more now to choose their own path,” she continued.
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When Johansson was in her late teens, she discovered her own womanhood and began to flirt with her own “desirability and sexuality”, however it didn’t exactly help her escape from getting typecast.
“I think because of that trajectory that I had been sort of launched towards, I really got stuck in this,” she explained. “I was kind of being groomed in a way to be this what you call this bombshell type of actor. I was playing the other woman and this object of desire and, you know, I suddenly found myself cornered in this place, like, I couldn’t get out of it.”
Soon after, the 38-year-old actress realized that appearance-based roles didn’t have much of a life-span.
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“I think for that kind of bombshell [role] that burns bright and quick, and then you don’t have much opportunity beyond that, and I just felt like I was burning out so quickly,” Johansson shared.
The “In Good Company” star also got candid about how she had a “really hard time” back when she was filming “Lost in Translation” at age 17 with co-star Bill Murray.
“Our characters have this … profound relationship and that was hard for me to .. I struggled with that for different reasons,” she told Bozzi. “When I came out of it, it was like this weird fever dream.”
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Since having children, Johansson, a mother of two, has been impacted to take on different projects.
“I think that’s an important lesson to teach girls and boys — to pursue work that is satisfying.”
