Scarlett Johansson says she was pressured to remove Holocaust narrative from her directorial debut | film

Scarlett Johansson said she was pressured to remove references to the Holocaust from her directorial debut Eleanor the Great, in which actress June Squibb plays an elderly woman pretending to be a Holocaust survivor.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Johansson said that during the film’s pre-production, one of the film’s backers threatened to withdraw unless Holocaust-related plot elements were removed.

“I mean, if they had said, ‘I’ll only support this if you shoot in New Jersey,’ or ‘We need to get this done by spring,’ that would have been one thing. But they were objecting to what the movie actually was.” He was“.

In the film, Squibb plays a retired Jewish widow who unwittingly joins a group of Holocaust survivors, and then plays a conman after realizing her mistake. Johansson said:[The film] It should have been about what happens when someone is caught in the worst lie imaginable; If not the Holocaust, what could it be? They did not offer any alternative. It was just: “This is a problem.”

Johansson said she refused to make the requested changes and the backer withdrew, meaning the budget was no longer covered. “It was really shocking, and I was very disappointed.” However, Johansson said that distribution company Sony Pictures Classics stepped in at the last minute and filming continued.

In the same interview, Johansson affirmed her support for Woody Allen, for whom she starred in the films Match Point, Scoop, and Vicky Cristina Barcelona between 2005 and 2008, saying: “My mother always encouraged me to be myself. [to see] It is important to have integrity and stand up for what you believe in. Allen has been ostracized by much of the film industry in the wake of his daughter Dylan Farrow’s allegations that the director sexually assaulted her in 1992. Allen has been the subject of investigations in relation to those allegations but has never been charged. The New York Department of Social Services said during its investigation that “there is no credible evidence” to support this claim. The interview follows her comments in 2019 when she said: “I love Woody. I believe him, and I would work with him anytime.”

Johansson also commented on her decision to sue Disney for breach of contract over the studio’s release of superhero film Black Widow simultaneously in cinemas and on the streaming platform Disney+, which was settled with $40m (£29.7m) in damages. Johansson said she would have welcomed more support for her contest with Disney. “As we’ve moved from the theatrical box office rewards model to understanding how that translates to streaming, it’s just become a nebulous thing, with no guidelines around it. So, to be able to have an impact, it moves everything in the right direction. But yeah, I would welcome more support,” she said.