LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Wes Anderson's upcoming film 'Asteroid City' stars Scarlett Johansson in the lead role, showcasing her talent alongside a star-studded ensemble cast of Hollywood royalty. This includes acclaimed actors Tom Hanks and Margot Robbie, who are both newcomers to Anderson's idiosyncratic cinematic universe. Joining them are Jason Schwartzman and Tilda Swinton, adding their unique contributions to the film's captivating storyline.
As the cast engages in promotional activities and interviews leading up to the release of the film, it reminds us of a past incident involving Johansson during her portrayal of Black Widow in the Marvel franchise. At that time, Johansson found herself faced with an uncomfortable and demeaning question from a reporter.
'I'll leave it to your imagination'
In an interview, journalist Jerry Penacoli posed an inappropriate question to Johansson, asking if she wears underwear under her Black Widow costume. The question was met with dismay from the actress. "You're the fifth person to ask me this today. What is going on? Since when do people start asking each other in interviews about their underwear?" When Penacoli tried to explain himself, saying he asked the question because she wears a "skin-tight" costume in the film. However, the actress cut him off and said, "I’ll leave it up to your imagination. Whatever you feel like I should be wearing or not wearing under that costume."
The interviewer went on to ask if the question was deemed inappropriate. "I mean, gosh, ask Joss [Whedon]. You asked Joss what kind of underwear he wears?" The 'Avengers' actress asked. "What kind of interview is this?"
The 'Jojo Rabbit' actress has voiced her dissatisfaction with inappropriate questions on other occasions as well. During a promotional event for 'Avengers: Infinity War', she was asked to discuss her character's costume change in the film, which she found to be another instance of objectifying and irrelevant questioning. "Do I really get to talk about fashion? I honestly don't know how to answer that question," she said.
'I've felt like an object'
The actress also complained about being typecast in sexualized roles on actor Dax Shepard's podcast 'Armchair Expert'. "A lot of times I've felt like an object. I was typecast in a way where I felt like I wasn't getting offers of work," she said. "I think everybody thought I was older," she added. "I got kind of pigeonholed into this weird, hypersexualized thing [...] it was like, 'That’s the kind of career you have, these are the roles you’ve played.' And I was like, 'This is it?'"
She continued, "I kind of became objectified and pigeonholed in this way where I felt like I wasn’t getting offers for work for things that I wanted to do." She further noted, "I remember thinking to myself, I was like, 'I think people think I’m, like, 40 years old.' It somehow stopped being something that was desirable and something that I was fighting against."
She finished on a hopeful note, saying that she already sees change happening in Hollywood, "I've come to this realization that it’s important to understand progress and change when it's really meaningful," she said. "It takes two steps forward and two steps back, and then it gets better and then it gets worse. It's not finite. I think if you don't leave room for people to figure it out, then the actual progressive change doesn’t really happen."
'Asteroid City' had its world premiere at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on May 2023, and is scheduled to be released worldwide on June 16.
