Johansson laughs out loud
New York actress, co-stars deliver some offbeat humour of their own on ‘Rough Night’ set
SCARLETT Johansson admits that every single day, as she filmed the hilariously black comedy Rough Night, she had to try to stop herself from laughing. She didn’t always succeed.
Johansson plays Jess, who reunites with four college friends – Pippa (Kate McKinnon), Alice (Jillian Bell), Frankie (Ilana Glazer) and Blair (Zoë Kravitz) – for her bachelorette party in Miami.
When things get wild, they end up with a dead male stripper on their hands.
“We were laughing non-stop,” she says. “Absolutely, non-stop. Those girls are so good at what they do. Kate, Ilana and Jillian have been making their parents laugh since they were three years old so they are just so sharp and they inspire one another in an incredible way.”
Rough Night is co-written by Paul W Downs, who plays Jess’s intended, Peter, and Lucia Aniello, who directs. Both are key members of the creative team behind the critically acclaimed TV show Broad City.
When she first picked up the script for Rough Night, Johansson knew it was special. “It’s not all the time that you read a script that is perfect and you go ‘oh yes, this is it.’ Like ‘I can see it and I’m in’.”
“I rarely get comedy sent in my direction and when I do it’s never something that’s so sharp like this.
“I remember reading it on the couch and literally laughing out loud. I thought it was so funny. It was thrilling and it’s crazy to get stuff like that and it makes you feel like there is original content out there. It’s inspiring.
“I met with Paul [W Downs] and Lucia [Aniello] and they were so wonderful – collaborative, funny, just a really exciting young artistic team.”
Jess and her old college friends head for Miami to celebrate her forthcoming wedding to Peter, a food writer. She’s an aspiring politician and the weekend away is an unwelcome distraction as an important election looms on the horizon.
But once in Miami, Jess immediately reconnects with her friends and they let their hair down in style. They drink, they dance and later, back at their rented home, one of the girls decides to hire male stripper Jay (Ryan Cooper) to keep the party going.
“Yes, it gets really crazy! A series of events occur and the stripper dies an accidental death.
“For various reasons the characters, who are very righteous in their own way, are suddenly faced with these totally outrageous, extraordinary circumstances and in a way, it’s like good improv [improvisation] where you just kind of say ‘yes’ to everything and don’t really ask questions and that’s the journey that they go on,” Johansson says.
“And we go off down this totally unexpected path with all of them.”
For Cooper it meant that for much of the film he has to play dead and is carried around by the girls as they try to work out how to dispose of the body.
“Ryan was such a sport about it and you know he has to do a lot of acting. It’s crazy when you see the film how realistic he is. He’s really a presence – the body is a character in this movie,” she laughs. “In some ways it’s kind of like the sixth member of this group.
“I don’t know how he kept it together because it was so hilarious all of the time.
“We were all amazed. His faces were so good – like his cadaver face was hysterical and it’s hilarious and it’s so wrong.”
Rough Night is firmly aimed at a grown-up audience. “It’s a delicate balance with R-rated comedy. But the movie is not vulgar the way that some R-rated comedies are. The situation is so extraordinary and ridiculous that it allowed for a lot of very dry and funny stuff.”
The story has a lot of heart too, Johansson says. “I think what makes this movie work and why people are having such a good reaction to it is because you really care about these characters.
“You can forgive the crazy circumstances because you really believe in the friendship between these women. I think that often our lives get so crowded with work and family drama. We all get caught up in the struggles of everyday life.
“I think this movie is really about, at the end of the day, looking around and just appreciating the people that remind you who you really are and what you were really put on earth for.”
Her own female friends are extremely important and Johansson enjoys a stolen weekend away with them from time to time. “My favourite times are girls’ trips – when the girls get together and have a destination trip and get to go out and dance and get crazy some nights and have your hangover brunch,” she laughs.
“You know, those times when you relax, gossip, inspire one another, read together. That stuff is great and those are the best times and I am long overdue for a trip like that.”
Johansson hopes the Rough Night team can reunite again in future.
“I hope certainly that Rough Night does so well that all of us can get together for another one.
“Doing comedy is really challenging. It’s exciting and the improvisational aspect of it sharpens your acting tools. So certainly I hope I can do more comedy.”
Johansson was born and raised in New York City. She began acting as a child and won critical acclaim for her performance as a troubled teen in Robert Redford’s The Horse Whisperer.
Her long list of film credits include the likes of Lost In Translation, Girl With A Pearl Earring, The Perfect Score, The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, The Jungle Book and Ghost in the Shell.
She is now filming the third and fourth films in Marvel’s Avengers series.