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Updated 7/15/02

We're Hangin' With....

SCARLETT JOHANSSON

by Lynn b.

Actress Scarlett Johansson just graduated from high school and is digging all the freedom. When we spoke with her in Los Angeles, she was sporting a delicate silver nose ring, a cute black skirt, well-worn tennies and blue nail polish. She curled her feet up under her in a chair and, in a very casual and self-assured manner, told us about working in her first special effects film Eight Legged Freaks. The world first met Scarlett a few years ago as a young girl traumatized in a riding accident in Robert Redford's The Horse Whisperer. A lot of young people identified with her character in Ghost World.

AGW: How did you prepare for the role as a teen threatened by giant spiders?

Scarlett: It wasn't Shakespeare so I didn't go into it doing research. One of the hard things was acting without something that was there. Nobody could tell me whether or not anything I did was good because I always thought I wasn't giving enough. If you saw a giant spider what would your reaction be? There's no other actor to bounce off of.

AGW: Was it hard to pretend things were there when they're not?

Scarlett: I've had to do that once or twice. You do it with improv. I remember there was a scene in Horse Whisperer when a Mac truck comes and hits me and it was really Robert Redford going 'And it comes to you, closer…..closer….closer' and I'm thinking 'This isn't scary. It's every middle-aged woman's dream come true'. No, he's very attractive. I had the hots for Sean Connery so age is just a number.

AGW: Why do a giant spider movie?

Scarlett: I'd done three films that were kind of weird and quirky and not at all like this film and I'd never done anything with big special effects before and it was just kind of appealing. It seemed like the right time to do it. I'd never been to Arizona [where the film was shot] before.

AGW: When you saw the spiders in the film for the first time is it what you imagined it would be?

Scarlett: Dean (Devlin, the Producer) had shown me what it was going to look like but it was nothing like what I saw [in my head]. I wondered if it was going to look like [the old film] Tarantula where it's an actual tarantula plopped in there or is this going to be a digital freak show? It was a nice, happy medium between the two. It wasn't a fake, awful thing. It was scary. The only audience I had [when I saw the film] was like 35 of my friends and family and everybody was freaking out. It was funny to get a reaction from kids my age. I got freaked out a couple of times. My boyfriend looked at me and said 'you can't jump. You were in this'.

AGW: How do you feel about spiders?

Scarlett: They're all right I guess. I didn't think I was that scared of them then somebody proposed that I hold one and it was 'oh my God, you're bringing it closer!' I held it. It was okay but I'd never hold a cockroach, ewwww. This girl once had these giant African cockroaches as pets and she would pet them and play with them. I live in New York. I found one in my shoe and on my face one morning.

AGW: Are you avoiding doing a lot of teen films?

Scarlett: No. I wouldn't say that. The next film I'm doing is a teen film [Perfect Score]. It's about a lot of kids who decide 'xxxxx the SATs'. They plot this whole thing to steal the scores. Some people would say Ghost World was a teen film because it had teenagers in it.

AGW: Did you watch creature features growing up?

Scarlett: My mom and I used to watch them. The Amazing Colossal Man and The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman were some of my favorites.

AGW: Kari Wuhrer is really wacky and fun but she's serious in the film. What was it like working with her as your mom?

Scarlett: Kari is closer to my age than most of the people who have played my mom. It makes a difference. People would say, 'that's your mom? You look like you're sisters'. Who's the one who is supposed to make out with David Arquette here? She has one scene where she's very stern and I have one where I'm a little rebellious. For the rest of the film it's all about the spiders. We always had a good time. We could have girlie talks, more about being two women than a mother/daughter.

AGW: What's in your CD player right now?

Scarlett: "Eric Clapton Unplugged". I listen to a lot of classic rock music.

AGW: What's next after Perfect Score for you?

Scarlett: This Fall I'm going to shoot something with Bill Murray and beginning of next year I'm supposed to shoot something with John Travolta.

AGW: How do you handle the competition among actresses your age?

Scarlett: If I find something that is just ripening, I grab it. The nice thing is, I've been very fortunate with other actors. I can go directly to an actor and say, 'let's do this together' and it happens. Whereas, if it's something like a big studio film with a lot of girls fighting over it, whoever's film has made the biggest box office is most likely the prime suitor for the part. I kind of avoid that stuff. It's better for me to burrow underground and then pop up.

AGW: What determines if you take a part or not?

Scarlett: The most important thing to me is that the character is something I can play. I can't play a cheerleader. It's going to come out awful. I don't feel comfortable bearing my stomach. I wouldn't pay ten dollars to see it. Some people are good at that. I think I look for projects that are unusual, films I haven't seen before. Also you look for films that remind you of films that you like and then what director's going to be working on it. Where's it shooting?

AGW: What are you reading?

Scarlett: I just graduated two weeks ago and realized now I can read and it's not an assignment. It's an amazing realization. Now I'm reading the complete short stories of Ernest Hemmingway. It's cool.

AGW: What, other than acting, is a natural high for you?

Scarlett: I like eating good meals. Every time I go out and eat good meals, it's a total natural high. You go out for a good chicken parm and you're happy and afterward, you're still happy. I like that. It's so good.

AGW: Are you going to do college?

Scarlett: I want to take time doing it so I deferred for one year from film school and then I'm going. I'm going to Purchase [in New York]. It's super hands on and the Freshman class is like eighteen kids and you don't take care of any of your requirements until your junior year so you just start watching movies and making movies and it's good. You crew for everybody else. It'll be fun I think. You can imagine me setting up lights. I'll kill myself.