Careful! Baby on board
Stunt crews, camera angles disguised Johansson’s pregnancy
Avengers: Age of Ultron opens wide May 1
LOS ANGELES — Scarlett Johansson was coy about her pregnancy last year, but she went full confessional recently.
The 30-year-old confirmed she was with child while filming her Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow role in Joss Whedon’s Avengers: Age of Ultron.
All went well, however. Johansson gave birth to baby daughter Rose Dorothy last fall, her first child with husband and French editor Romain Dauric.
Needless to say, her portrayal of Black Widow required some tricky camera work and outstanding performances by a few fearless stuntwomen.
“I’m very fortunate that there’s a team around me that is super-supportive in helping all of Widow’s fight moves and badass motorcycle riding happen,” said Johansson, promoting the Avengers sequel at Disney’s Burbank studio lot.
In the much-anticipated Marvel movie, Black Widow joins Iron Man (Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) to battle the war bot Ultron (voiced by James Spader).
That happens after Iron Man’s billionaire inventor Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) builds Ultron to protect the human race, but a flaw in its artificial intelligence reverses its mission.
New to the film series are Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), who are twins with payback against Stark on their minds.
As usual, Black Widow is in the thick of the action, including the aforementioned motorcycle chase digitally remastered to look like the actress really did ride.
“I don’t think you’re allowed to ride a motorcycle when you’re still pregnant,” Johansson said. “I embarrassingly rode some sort of a mechanical bull type of motorcycle, which goes nowhere and doesn’t look cool at all.”
So she applauds “the very professional and amazing” stunt team that did do the riding and the special effects supervisors who engineered the replications.
“It makes Black Widow look like a total badass,” she noted. “I would start a move and then finish a move.”
In other words, it took minor bits of choreography, but she was up for it.
“And luckily, Joss (Whedon) writes some badass moves that make me look just epic and it’s awesome. And I just said epic, awesome and badass all in one sentence, so I’m done.”
There’s more, though. For instance, Johansson’s Black Widow and Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk reveal a burgeoning relationship in Age of Ultron, which is new to the Marvel universe.
“She let her guard down,” said Johansson. “She was hopeful for something.”
More dramatically, the sequel reveals a life-altering turning point in Romanoff’s harrowing past, and a hint of what might be her future in the Avengers world.
“It’s a well-oiled machine where we are tag-teaming each other,” Johansson said of the all-star congregation. “The introductions are over and we’re digging our heels in.”
That’s even as Black Widow goes through her own transition. “She puts in the work and she wonders whether there should be some kind of personal payoff, but she’s realizing her calling is a greater one.”
Certainly, Black Widow “isn’t thrilled” about her predicament. But she’s in a coping phase.
“That’s kind of what is most heroic about her — she’s accepting the call of duty,” Johansson said.
It does prompt the question: What’s next for Black Widow in the Marvel Universe? Chances are she will be featured in her own special instalment — but confirmation has yet to arrive.
“There are so many different directions to go,” she says. “Is she going to be able to withstand this huge weight that’s bearing down on her or is she going to crack under it, and sort of crumble?”
Johansson hesitated briefly before adding with sly smile: “I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”