Are you keeping up with all of my Captain America Interviews? I hope you’re enjoying my interview recaps. I sure had a fun time there and am loving sharing everything with you.
Only 1 more day until CA:TWS is out in theaters! Are you excited?
Here’s something to tide us over…the interview transcripts with none other than Scarlett Johansson aka Black Widow. Let me tell you, interviewing ScarJo was amazing. She is an amazing woman and actress. And on a side note, I could tell just how much she was valued as a co-star after interviewing Chris Evans and Anthony Mackie. They both commented on how great Scarlett is.
It was so great to meet her.
So without further adieu …
Q&A with Scarlett Johansson
Q : When are we gonna see the Black Widow movie?
SCARLETT : … the thing about working with Marvel that I appreciate certainly and I think fans appreciate is what a kind of big part the audience voice is kind of resounds in their ears.
I think because Marvel, and particularly Kevin Feige is such a fan of the source material himself and understands that the fans are kind of what drive this train.
… it’s either this character I love playing or she’s got such great source material I think there’s- it would be wonderful to have the challenge of doing a female superhero movie where the protagonist didn’t kind of rest on her feminine wiles and use every opportunity to strike a sexy pose in order to get the job done.
… she uses her brain, wit and feminine wiles to get the job done. She’s a very playful character and also a character that has a really compelling story. Because she doesn’t- she has a kind of a gray moral code. She’s not black and white. AndI think it could be really a fun, fun opportunity to have. So, we’ll see. If you request it, they will come. [LAUGHTER] How would that work?
Q : In this film she’s like cupid? Why the transition?
SCARLETT : Um, that’s interesting. Well first of all when the character is talking to Loki she’s kind of putting up this front obviously. She’s not, as we come to realize, is not being completely honest with him. It’s partly for her widow face that she wears. And in this film we really get to see a lot more of Natasha. I like to think that Natasha has a romantic side.
… she’s been really damaged. I think that she very early on in the past probably learned to not care too much about people because they could be easily taken away from her and used against her. And she probably didn’t want to hurt the people that she loved the most. And so she never needs them or never invested too much in them knowing that they- it would probably put them in danger. I think that she hopes that for someone like Cap- you know particularly Steve.
… I think she sees someone who is… could really have sort of have his life enriched by sharing it with somebody. That she sees someone that kind of yearns for that, but is also scarred by the series of events that have changed his life. And maybe she’s kind of sees in Steve a little bit of herself and wants something more for him.
Q : Do you enjoy having your character mature?
SCARLETT : Yeah, I mean it’s been, it’s been interesting because a lot of … Of course when I went in to do Avengers after having done Iron Man 2 which you kind of don’t know a lot about the character, right, you sort of see her in widow mode. And I met with Joss and we started talking, he did a bunch of research. …‘cause now at this point it was like, all right, we’re invested in this character. I didn’t know if the character would work, or the audience would like her. Like my version of her.
And once it became clear they did and I got the opportunity to explore more of her back story in Avengers it really started to kind of carve out what this- what my kind of version of Natasha, what my reality could be. Because I mean obviously it’s one of the oldest female superheroes. Probably the oldest one, and she’s got this vast library of source material and has had many incarnations and many different people have their hand in her stories.
She’s made all kinds of connections and love interests and failures, and she’s been good and bad in everything. And so we wanted to make sure that the story felt contemporary, obviously. I wouldn’t have a cold war kind of back story, did it make sense, and we had to kind of tailor it to my AGENT, like what my experience would be. It’s been great to be able to reveal little pieces of that. Um, I think it’s kind of like these little Easter eggs for the fans.
A little, um, I’ll wink at the audience when you kind of learn a little bit about her, you know, KGB past, or whatever kind of task she’s been been set on. And you kind of discover her as, as I discover her as well. And it’s fun to do that.
Q : Tell us about the stunts you did.
SCARLETT : Well first of all, my stunt girlfriend… [LAUGHTER] is this wonderful, wonderful stunt woman by the name of Heidi Moneymaker – that’s her real name. And she’s awesome. That’s awesome. She’s awesome. And this is our third – she’s played the widow every time along with me. So we, we have really worked together from the beginning to develop this fighting style that you see. Um, we want to keep the consistency of it, it’s such a fun, it’s such a playful kind of fighting style.
You know, it’s badass but it’s kind of sexy. It’s a little bit like flirtatious, I guess, the style. And it’s balletic giving a kind of a little, a nod to her past gymnastics. Uh, that’s a bit of a nod to Heidi’s past, kind of quality to it. And of course the Muay Thai and whatever else she would have learned with her kind of global experience. And in Iron Man, the fight sequences were really pretty fantastic, you know.
A lot of like kind of gimmicky things that were just really fun to watch. Um, in Avengers, of course, the weaponry, there was a lot more kind of gun play and stuff like that and wielding all kinds of crazy alien guns, and that was a mess. Um, you know, Wushu or whatever. It was just- can’t tell you how painful that is. But this time around a lot of the fighting was pretty gritty. A lot of it is kind of handheld weapons, like full on kind of fighting …
And it actually made it a lot easier for me because first of all the crazy acrobatic stuff that you see I start and finish, and then Heidi does ridiculous things with her body that I could never do. Even if it was my job. She’s amazing. And deserves a lot, most of the credit. A very brave and very inspiring person. I just basically wound myself trying to emulate whatever she does.
And hopefully they can use as much of my face as possible. And I like to do it, too. I like to, I wanna be as involved as I can. And, uh, the stunt guys they let me do it ‘cause they’re nuts. So. [LAUGHTER] There’s a big insurance policy on the film.
Q : Tell us about the Black Widow costume.
SCARLETT : The Widow costume is, I have to say, it’s probably the most comfortable of the superhero suits because it doesn’t require a built-in air conditioning unit, like Hemsworth does.I don’t have a lot of under armor or any of that kind of, I don’t have a huge leather cape, headdress, whatever, all that stuff. It’s pretty straight forward. It’s kinda like a wet suit actually. Sort of this one piece … I’m always amazed when it goes on and zips up. I’m like, wow. It’s on.
… it’s totally empowering because you get the belt and the gloves and the bracelets and your guns and the boots and it looks great. It’s badass and I think it makes all of- when I’m, have my legs wrapped around some giant stunt guy’s head or whatever, and feeling totally ridiculous hanging on for dear life, um, you know, it, it sells it.
Totally sells things that would otherwise look absolutely absurd. Um, it adds role, kind of superhero, superhero thing. It changes the way you stand. It changes your posture. You’re more aware of your body, obviously. And I think when you walk on the set everybody’s like, yeah, it’s the Widow, you know. Looks good. And I’ve grown to love it, you know. First I, I was terrified of it. And now I embrace it because it embraces me, actually.
I work hard to- to get into it and I’m proud to wear it. It’s fun. And then, of course, you know, kids love it which is great because really, it looks very superhero-esque and my friends kids that are girls they love the way that it looks. And that it’s actually it’s kind of utilitarian but it’s got the feminine thing going to it. It’s fun for them to have that to, to put on as opposed to like the tiny little skirt. [LAUGHTER] A little cover-up with a tutu, stuff like that.
So amazing to talk to and listen to how she creates the character Black Widow.
Need a little more to tide you over? Check out this great clip:
What do you think…will there be a Black Widow movie at some point?
Rachel says
She did an AMAZING job! thanks so much for sharing 😀
Chelsea Klassen says
I can’t wait to see this! She looks awesome!