BACK IN BLACK
Johansson, Pugh sound off on making Marvel's grittiest movie ... yet
After — spoiler alert — dying in Avengers: Endgame, Scarlett Johansson is back in action in Black Widow, a prequel that will serve as the first entry to Marvel's Phase 4 slate of films. The solo outing finds the redheaded assassin on the run from the
U.S. government in a story set between the events of 2016's Captain America: Civil War and 2018's Avengers: Infinity War.
Directed by Cate Shortland (Berlin Syndrome) and co-scripted by Wandavision writer Jac Schaeffer, the movie delves into Black Widow's dark past long before she became an Avenger. “We shot Infinity War and then Endgame back-to-back. So we already knew what the endgame was for Natasha,” the two-time Oscar nominee says. “But in this film, she had to evolve into a place where she was moving forward in her life and had resolved the trauma from her past.”
Johansson, who has played Black Widow since the character first appeared in 2010's Iron Man 2, credits the role for helping her be confident in a career that's veered outside the MCU into other action blockbusters (Lucy, Ghost in the Shell) and more intimate dramas (Marriage Story, Jojo Rabbit).
Florence Pugh, who plays Yelena Belova, the superspy's sister in the film, and who becomes Black Widow in the comics, is posed to have a big part in future stories.
Zooming in from New York
City and the U.K. respectively, the affable Johansson and Pugh spoke about their experience making Black Widow's first standalone movie.
Q Scarlett, you've played Black Widow for a decade.
What was it like to undergo the narrative arc she went through over the course of eight movies and what was it like to play her?
A It's hard to summarize it in a quick soundbite. I think when we find Natasha in this film, she's really alone for the first time. She's always been a part of either a system or a team or she's worked for somebody; she's never really had to make active choices for herself. It's an interesting process because when we were talking about this we were already making Endgame, so we wanted to be conscious of that and make her ultimate sacrifice feel like an active choice. … We could only get there because we were already working on this film … It's a very complicated but interesting way of working. I can never imagine another time where I'll be able to do this (with a character) over a decade of time.
Q Florence, we spoke a few years ago and I tried to ask you what you thought about being able to join the MCU and you said, “I'm not talking to you about that.” Now we can talk about it though. What was it like to join the MCU?
A I hope I wasn't that rude (laughs) ... I remember when we went to our first Comic-con, I asked Scarlett, “What are we allowed to say at these things?” and Kevin (Feige) popped over and said, “Nothing. You can't say anything.” I was like, “But I can say I'm playing Scarlett's younger sister, right?” and he said, “No.” So I really couldn't say anything. But now I can … I feel so welcomed. A lot of my friends who have asked me about this experience have all had this idea that you join this machine and you're in it and you're part of it and (Marvel) makes the choices. I have to say that it's been the complete opposite. I've felt so welcomed and it's been a warm reception, even with the fans. I've been welcomed into this family and from start to finish it was such a wonderfully collaborative and creative process.
Q When fans see the movie, they're going to be blown away by the action. Which was your favourite action scene to film? Pugh: It has to be (the fight between) Scarlett and I at the beginning, for me … Stepping onto that set … just the badassness of the fight was just so refreshing. I don't think I've seen a female fight like that ever before. And better yet, I got to be in it. That was definitely the cherry on the top of this film.
Johansson: There's a lot of great sequences. Obviously, the Taskmaster pursuit is pretty epic. It goes from a motorcycle to a car to an explosive chase through a subway. It's pretty intense. I think you feel the anxiety of it, and it feels like it's full of adrenalin. A friend of mine who has seen the film said to me, “I felt anxious the whole time” (laughs). But a movie like this should keep you gripped the whole time. We always wanted the action to feel like Natasha was a little off her game this time. She gets there eventually and finds her footing, but she's not all together. There's a lot happening to her emotionally and she's in such a Twilight Zone of a place she never thought she would go back to. When Yelena first reaches out to her she can't believe she's going back (to her past). She's agitated by it in every way. So that affects the way she moves and she's a little bit off. But I think that adds to the feeling of excitement when you watch the action sequences. It's not crisp, it's more dirty fighting and I think that looks really great.