In a recent interview on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Scarlett Johansson opened up about a particularly uncomfortable moment on the set of the 2014 film Elle.
Johansson voiced Samantha, an artificially intelligent virtual assistant who develops a relationship with Theodore Twombly, played by Joaquin Phoenix. During one scene, Johansson’s character had to check in with an org@sm, which turned out to be a weird and uncomfortable experience for Phoenix.
Johansson revealed that Phoenix was so uncomfortable with the stage that he had to leave the studio. “We tried to get through a hold, and he was losing it,” Johansson said.
“I was fine. Joaquin wasn’t – he was so upset about it. He left the studio, and now I’m alone in this club, and I’m like, ‘I can’t do this alone. I need to get back to him.’ He needed a break, he took a break and he came back.”
Johansson has also spoken of being “hyper-ualized” in the early years of her career and feeling objectified in Hollywood. Despite some progress being made with the #MeToo movement, Johansson acknowledged there’s still a lot of work to be done.
She said: “I realized it’s important to understand progress and change when it’s really meaningful – it takes two steps forward and two steps back, then it gets better and then it gets worse. ”
