Johansson files for divorce, wants primary custody
Children under age 16 won’t be able to go to the new Disney film “Beauty and the Beast” in Russia because it includes a gay character, the Russian Culture Ministry said Tuesday.
The ministry told The Associated Press in an emailed statement that its decision for the 16-plus rating followed petitions by lawmaker Vitaly Milonov, known for his ultraconservative views, petitioned for the live-action film to be banned.
In a letter released Saturday by the RIA Novosti news agency, Milonov protested the screening of a movie that disseminates “overt and shameless propaganda of sin and sexual perversion under the guise of a fairy tale.”
Milonov, who was elected to the State Duma last year, is a former local lawmaker in St. Petersburg who has built his political career on opposing LGBT rights.
In 2013, Russia passed a federal law banning “gay propaganda” among minors. It was worded vaguely so it can be applied in a wide range of circumstances, for example, making it easy to target gay and lesbian teachers in Russia because they work directly with children. The law was modeled on a St. Petersburg bill that Milonov authored a year earlier
The film’s brief scene in question involves the character of LeFou (Josh Gad), the timid and lovable sidekick to the preening villain Gaston (Luke Evans).
At the film’s March 2 premiere in Los Angeles, director Bill Condon suggested that describing LeFou as Disney’s first gay character went too far.
“I keep saying it’s more like the first gay moment,” he said. “Because I think it’s a very fluid character.” The director added: “You can’t help but wonder in his adoration of Gaston ... (is there) something more going on?”
One Alabama drivein theater has canceled plans to show the film, which opens next week and stars Emma Watson
Looks like Scarlett Johansson and Romain Dauriac’s split is for real.
The actress filed divorce documents Monday in Manhattan Supreme Court, according to Page Six. The 32-year-old is seeking primary custody of their daughter, Rose Dauriac, who turned 2 years old in September.
The “Avengers” star was the one who pulled the plug on the marriage, a Johansson-adjacent source told Us Weekly in January, when the split went public. The two have been separated since last summer, with Page Six reporting now that they’ve had an informal week-on/week-off custody arrangement since then.
Moving forward, given Johansson’s primary custody request, Dauriac’s lawyer told Page Six that he expected an “interesting process” as his client fought for shared custody.
“He would like to move to France with his daughter, and Ms. Johansson does a lot of traveling,” attorney Harold Mayerson said.
As for why the couple split — they married quietly in 2014, shortly after their daughter was born — a source described as close to Dauriac told People in January that the two “never made sense” as a couple.
“They aren’t equals,” the source said. “There’s always been something wrong with this picture.”
This will be Johannson’s second divorce. She and first husband, Ryan Reynolds, split in December 2010, a little more than two years after their wedding.
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