Scarlett Johansson says her daughter, 11, is 'super-supportive' of her Hollywood goals

Spoiler alert! Minor plot details ahead for "Eleanor the Great" (in theaters now).NEW YORK − She's gone toe to toe with Marvel villains, T-rexes and Bill Murray.But Scarlett Johansson's most superheroic feat just might be directing her first movie, "Eleanor the Great" (in theaters Sept. 26), starring Oscar nominee June Squibb as a spunky Jewish senior citizen searching for connection after losing her best friend, Bessie (Rita Zohar).The heart-tugging comedy is a point of pride for Johansson, 40, who hopes to set an example to her kids by stepping behind the camera and chasing her dreams. She has a daughter, Rose, 11, with ex-husband Romain Dauriac, as well as a son, Cosmo, 4, with husband Colin Jost, a Weekend Update co-anchor on "Saturday Night Live.""It's important for your kids to know when you enjoy your job and that you're leaving them for something that you like to do," Johansson says in a recent joint interview with Squibb. "I have a very young son. He's not totally aware, but my daughter is super-supportive of me and encouraging, and that's really empowering for me."She sees that this film is a labor of love, and that it's a story that's important to me and the actors are important to me and the crew is important to me," Johansson adds. "Whether I'm choosing images for the poster or font color or music, she's curious about it and she can see that I'm passionate about the work that I'm doing. I think that's important for kids to see.""That's great," Squibb, 95, agrees. "Just the fact that you're doing something that means so much to you, it's all right for you to leave and do it, in their minds."Written by Tory Kamen, "Eleanor the Great" is an often riotous but also deceptively complex tale about grief. In an effort to memorialize Bessie, who was a Holocaust survivor, Eleanor begins to pass off some of her late friend's stories as her own. The lonely retiree starts to dig herself into an even deeper hole when she befriends a young journalist, Nina (Erin Kellyman), who is interested in sharing Eleanor's claimed Holocaust experiences."It's rare to read a script that has such a surprising plot device," Johansson says. "I found it to be very funny and a very certain kind of humor that I respond to. And then once this plot twist takes place, I found myself leaning in. I was so committed to seeing it through, like, 'How is Eleanor going to get out of it?' Tory wrote this character based on her own grandmother, and so there's a lot of specificity in the dialogue. It just felt lived in."Many independent movies are sent straight to streaming, but "Eleanor" will play in theaters. Johansson is grateful to the project's producers for backing a small-scale, character-driven dramedy that's based on an original idea."It's always hard to finance films like that because it's a risk," the actress says. "It's not obvious to see the possibility of a win. You have to really believe in the cast and the director's vision and the script."

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