For a decade, she played a founding member of the Avengers in the profitable Marvel Cinematic Universe. In 2010, Scarlett Johansson, appearing at age 14 in The Man Who Whispered Horses (1998), made a name for herself in cinema. She played three times in front of the cameras of Woody Allen (Match Point, Scoop, Vicky Cristina Barcelona) or Christopher Nolan (The Prestige). Then came Iron Man 2, which introduced him into the MCU, alongside Robert Downey Jr., in the guise of Natasha Romanoff. After her character’s sad ending in Avengers Endgame (2019), the American actress had the opportunity to say goodbye to her character two years later, in Black Widow, broadcast Monday November 27, 2023 at 9:25 p.m. on TMC. However, farewells were sometimes ruined behind the scenes…
A $40 million standoff
The film is released in the complicated context of the pandemic, on July 7, 2021, in French theaters (July 9 in the United States). A few weeks later, Scarlett Johansson filed a lawsuit against Disney in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The reason ? The big-eared studio has decided to simultaneously release Black Widow on its streaming platform. A decision that was not foreseen in the actress’ contract, a clause of which even stipulated that the film would be released exclusively in cinemas. Two months later, the 38-year-old actress won her showdown by pocketing nearly 40 million dollars.
Scarlett Johansson: “I was sad and disappointed”
Not holding a grudge, Scarlett Johansson recently returned to this episode during a portrait devoted to her by Variety. “I was sad and disappointed. But mostly disappointed. It was a surreal moment because we were all in lockdown at the time and emerging a little bit. I was also pregnant, which appeared, surprisingly, “like perfect timing. Suddenly your attention is drawn to this miracle of life. So I had the most wonderful distraction in the world and, soon after, a beautiful baby,” she confesses. Before noticing a positive point in this affair: “I couldn’t enter a restaurant without someone saying to me: ‘It’s good, defend yourself’. I noticed that it had an impact . I received support from strangers who had nothing to do with any of this.”
