James Gray was sure Scarlett Johansson would say no. “I didn’t think Scarlett Johansson had any interest in working with me on any level,” the acclaimed filmmaker says. “I don’t even know if she’s aware of this, but multiple times, I wanted to work with her. I’ve been kind of obsessed with working with Scarlett for a long time so I had total pessimism about it.” Listening in on an adjacent Zoom box, Johansson nods while holding her poker face like only great actors can. Then, when it’s her turn to respond, she smirks: “I won’t comment on the pessimism part…but James and I have met before to discuss different things, so he’s actually not being totally forthcoming. He did know that I was interested.”
Gray clarifies: “I was extremely nervous. I was terrified that she was going to think it’s preposterous and silly.”
Then Johansson read the script for Paper Tiger, which debuts this weekend in Cannes. “I was like, ‘Oh, I know I can do this. I don’t necessarily know how I’m going to do it, but I know that there’s something here that I can do and that I can be additive,’” she says. “It had so many elements that I loved. It’s a big story inside of a small story.”
Johansson has made a habit of effortlessly mixing fizzy tentpole fare such as Jurassic World: Rebirth and Mike Flanagan’s upcoming take on The Exorcist — currently filming, and thereby preventing Johansson from attending the Paper Tiger premiere on the Croisette, she says — with challenging, chewy auteur-driven projects from the likes of Noah Baumbach and Wes Anderson. Paper Tiger falls firmly in the latter category.
