Scarlett Johansson and Joaquin Phoenix. Image Source: Complex
Scarlett Johansson talks about one of the most challenging jobs she has done.
Spike Jonze’s 'HER', which was released in 2013, is no doubt one of the most iconic and coming-of-age movies of all time, which starred Joaquin Phoenix as the lead actor and actress Scarlett Johansson as the voice of artificial intelligence Samantha. Not only was the film critically acclaimed around the world, but it also earned one Academy Award for Best Screenplay at the 86th Academy Awards, as well as four other nominations.
During her appearance on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Scarlett Johansson shared how both the actors had struggled with recording a sex scene shown in the movie. Scarlett said the entire film had already been shot before her arrival, with Samantha Morton filling in for the voice role, and the scenes required to be re-recorded with her.
Scarlett went on to say that recording the sex scene in which artificial intelligence Samantha falls in love with Joaquin Phoenix's character Theodore Twombly was one of the most difficult jobs she had ever done and that the recording sessions were quite uncomfortable for Joaquin Phoenix.
The actress told Dax that no one desires to hear what they appear like when they have a fake orgasm and remembered that when they all came in that day, she had transformed into the actor who would say, "Let's get dirty," stating that she needs that personality or she will be petrified. Scarlett went on to say that after Joaquin Phoenix arrived and they began filming, the actor began to cry and said he couldn't do it.
Scarlett stated that Joaquin Phoenix was upset because he had already filmed the scene with Samantha Morton and had done it in person, and now he had to do it again with her in this strange theatre where she was in a box and he was gazing at her and the lights were low and the director was present, and she added that it was so strange. The actress went on to say that she was fine, but Joaquin Phoenix was not, and he appeared upset and angry about it, so he left the studio, leaving her alone in the box.
The Black Widow actress said that even though she was okay, she needed Joaquin Phoenix to come back because she could not have done the scene alone and he did. She explained that he needed a break, and he took it, and he came back in. Scarlett said that she has not seen "HER" in a long time, but she feels that if she watches it, she will be mortified because it’s tough.
Scarlett Johansson, Dax Shepard, and co-host Monica Padman discussed Scarlett Johansson's early days as an actress during her Armchair Expert appearance. During the episode, the Black Widow actress acknowledged that she spent a lot of time as a child around adults, which she believed to be due to her growing up and career in Manhattan, and that she was assuredly in situations that were not age-appropriate.
She said that fortunately, her mom was really good about protecting her from a lot of that stuff, but she can't do that for everything. The actress said that even though her perceived maturity coincided with her being hyper-sexualized as young actress sex was never a huge part of her actual personality. She said that she says that because she believes that everyone assumed she was older and had been acting for a long time, and then she got pigeonholed into this weird hyper-sexualized thing which made her think that her career was over. Scarlett said that's the kind of job they as actors have and there is the kind of roles they have played which made her think that, guess this is it.
Scarlett Johansson and Dax Shepard both admitted that the hyper-sexualized categorize in Hollywood has a short lifespan for women. She explained that it was terrifying at the time because the runway was so short. The Marriage Story actress recalled and said that a lot of it was due to individuals starting to think she was much, much older than she was.
