Film Edited by Zach Long
timeout.com/chicago/film @z_long futurist The
Scarlett Johansson plays another kick-ass warrior in Ghost in the Shell—so what has her so scared? By Dave Calhoun
IN SCARLETT JOHANSSON’S new film, a remake of a 1990s Japanese manga movie, she plays the Major, a cyborg in a tech-driven vision of the near future. It’s not the 32-year-old actor’s first brush with action and effects-heavy blockbuster cinema: She’s been playing the Black Widow in the Avengers movies for almost a decade now. But Johansson is a diverse performer, equally known for her turns in left-field movies like Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin. We met the actor soon after the presidential election—months before her infamous Women’s March speech—when she was thinking about the future in more ways than one.
Ghost in the Shell asks us to think about the future. That feels timely: Do you think politics has already put the future into sharp focus for many Americans? Yes, and we’ve been kind of complacent. In the United States we don’t have mandatory military service or a draft or anything like that, so people don’t necessarily think about voting, which in some other places is a life-or-death decision! Now it’s all catching up with us. It’s brought us to this new administration, which is scary.
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What are you most worried about? I’m most concerned about the environmental ramifications because that’s a clock you can’t turn back. We’ve had other administrations that were backward, in that they were not progressive. But this presidency is unprecedented because we have someone in office who has absolutely no political experience whatsoever—ever.
Where do you even begin when you’re playing a cyborg onscreen? With this character, there’s nothing extra to her. She’s efficient. There’s no fumbling for the right thing to say. She doesn’t nervously fidget. She’s not exactly mechanical, but she’s driven, and as an actor you rely on
“Anonymity is such a precious thing. I can’t imagine why you’d want to give it up.”
physical nuances, vocal nuances, things that connect with an audience. You don’t want to give a performance that’s monotonous. But it has to stay true to what her experience is. It was challenging.
Are you interested in technology and how it affects us? I’m probably more wary than someone who isn’t in the public eye. I see the value of anonymity in a way that one cannot unless they do not have it anymore! We live in a world where so much is shared about us, and anonymity is such a precious thing. I can’t imagine why you’d actively want to give it up. That’s why I don’t participate in social media. It seems like it can be a great waste of time. Not always, but there’s a possibility of that.
You’re now best known for playing the Black Widow in the Avengers series. What keeps that interesting? I’ve been able to peel back the layers of this onion for, like, eight years now. I’m excited to know where she goes next. I’m waiting for The Avengers 3 and 4 scripts— like all of us are! Marvel, where the fuck is my script?
à Ghost in the Shell opens Mar 31. March 8–June 6, 2017 Time Out Chicago
PHOTOGRAPHS: © 2016 PARAMOUNT PICTURES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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