Scarlett Johansson

Over the years, there have been only a few artists who have played two comic-book characters, from two different comic-book universes, for two different movies. Most noticeable are Halle Berry and James Marsden.

Halle played Storm, the weather-controlling mutant, for the X-Men franchise of Fox. She took a break as Storm and starred as Catwoman for the Warner Bros. 2004 movie. She then came back to reprise her role as Storm in the 2006 production for X-Men: The Last Stand.

James Marsden, also an X-Men alumnus, played plasma-blasting mutant, Cyclops, for the multi-part Fox franchise. However, he caused quite a stir for Fox when he signed up for Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns film, playing Richard White, Lois Lane’s new partner. All would have been fine and dandy, if not for the fact that this particular movie was shot in Australia. James’s schedule prompted Fox to kill his character earlier in the last installment of the X-Men movie.

So, the million-dollar question is: would Ryan Reynolds be allowed to play 20th Century Fox’s rendition for popular anti-hero, Deadpool, and at the same time star as Warner Bros.’s Green Lantern? Well, we certainly hope so.

What does Ryan say about this?

“There’s no rule that says you can’t play two different characters in two different comic book universes,” he says

And he’s up for adding even more superheroes to his collection of roles, saying, “There’s so many interesting comic book characters out there, I would love to do others.”

Hmmmm, between his wife, Scarlett Johansson’s role in the new Iron Man 2, Black Widow, and Ryan’s Deadpool and Green Lantern, I think that it would be safe to say that this couple is trying to be the Incredibles in real life.

Okay, so this is the interview that Butch Francisco, a Filipino entertainment journalist, did with Ryan Reynolds. Enjoy!

On his nude scene: (to a European writer to kept asking him about it) You are so obsessed with sex! Oh Ryan! He wasn’t obsessed with sex! He was obsessed with you being naked! Anyway, he proceeds to say, “While doing that entire sequence, we were actually combining both nudity and stunt. I was worried about naughty bits flying out!”

On his exercise regimen for the movie: I hike only. I do weights only for roles — like the one I did in Wolverine. Hey, I was running the New York marathon before.

On having the title of Sexiest Man in 2008: No, it did not matter at all. Okay, while the title is flattering, I don’t dwell much on that because if you’re the Sexiest Man Alive for 2008, there will be a Sexiest Man Alive for 2009.

On Hugh Jackman being the Sexiest Man in 2009: Oh, he campaigned hard for it (laughs)!

On working with Sandra Bullock: We met through mutual friends. Working together in The Proposal was a dream. We have chemistry even outside of camera range. This was what happened on the first day of rehearsal: We left after 45 minutes because there was no point doing it — we just laughed a lot

On his super-supportive family: In real life, I also get a lot of support from my family and they try to understand my profession — and that isn’t easy for them. I come from a family of cops and they didn’t think they’d have somebody who’d sing and dance in Hollywood.

On his citizenship (he’s Canadian working in the US): I’ll just say I’m legal.

For those of you who don’t know (and I’m willing to bet that there are a lot of you who don’t) Butch Francisco, is a very well-known and respected journalist in the Philippines. Why am I talking about him? Well because more importantly, he got to interview the “next leading man in Hollywood” – Ryan Reynolds, himself!

Well, as I was saying, Butch was lucky enough to be sent off to interview the man of the hour. But what was particularly unique about this is that he had no idea what Ryan looked like. Gasp! Yes, I know what you’re thinking. A journalist who does not recognize Ryan Reynolds! But hey, let’s just forgive him since he hasn’t had time to watch any of Ryan’s movie just yet.

In his column, the media man writes: In person, Ryan isn’t exactly the handsome leading man in the same mold as Cary Grant. Oh well, in my opinion, no one can be as handsome and charming as Cary Grant!

He also writes that: He is a brilliant comedian with great timing and the way he comically parries it off with Sandra is what makes The Proposal succeed as a comedy. Only a few minutes into the movie, I already had respect for his talent and was finally excited to formally meet him. Wow, look who’s gushing! But I guess that this is really true, watching the movie, I can really say that Ryan has great comedic timing. And his interaction and chemistry with Sandra Bullock is great (the fact that they’ve been friends for nine years didn’t hurt too). And oh, I want to meet him too!

His article titled, Why Everybody Adores Ryan Reynolds, printed in one of the leading national newspapers in his country, states exactly why movie-goers and the general public adore Ryan: Undeniably he has great star quality. But that doesn’t necessarily alienate him from most moviegoers who would surely find him — how do we say that? — okay, just within reach of anybody. In today’s changing taste in the movies, that is a plus factor.

Amen.

Of course, the interview would not be complete without her saying something about Gwyneth Paltrow and their supposed catfight:

On the rumors surrounding her and Gywneth Paltrow: No, nothing could be further from the truth. I have nothing but wonderful things to say about working with Gwyneth. She’s totally out of the loop. She’s very much out of the loop. You know, she’s got a wonderful family she spends a lot of time with, so for her, she’s like, ‘What’s going on? What?’ And, of course, Jon (Favreau, director), who’s like on his Twittering thing–he’s so crazy about any kind of news about anything–is like, ‘You haven’t heard? You haven’t heard?’ He comes on set and I’m like, ‘Oh, God,’ you know. Every time I would say—I would say to Gwyneth–you know she would say, ‘Oh, yeah, that was on the seventh,’ and I would say, ‘Are you sure that wasn’t on the sixth?’ And, (Jon) would go, ‘Another cat fight! It’s breaking out!’”

On Gywneth’s rumored snubbing of Comic-Con: Believe me, she’s worthy of plenty of attention and I know that the fans love her. And, they’re going to love to see her in this movie because her character really is able to, kind of, comes into her own. And, I know that she would love to be here, as well, but she’s with her family.

So there you go! They’re not fighting and everything’s going well with the both of them. But considering that both of them are quite the professionals, I guess that this is just all a misunderstanding for their parts. Let’s give them peace.

This is the second installment of Scarlett Johansson’s interview for the Iron Man 2 movie. Here, she talks about her character more, and the pressures that come in signing on for a multi-picture movie (What?! This is a multi-picture role? I didn’t know that!):

On her role and its relationship with the other characters: “There are sort of two sides to my character, she’s a bit of a shape-shifter, I suppose. There’s a side of the character that’s kind of demur and sort of covert, and, um, kind of…I wouldn’t say that she’s submissive, but she’s kind of blending into sort of Stark Industries of some kind. And, then the other part of the character, which is a really aggressive and bad ass character that is sure of herself and is going to kick the shit out of you if you get in her way. That’s about as much as I can tell you.”

On the Black Widow’s character: Well, I mean, like I said, the character remains quite mysterious in this film. All we kind of—you know, she’s definitely—I mean, this movie is not about, like, revealing the Black Widow identity. Hopefully, if the character continues on, whether that be through Avengers or something like that we’ll be able to explore more of her past. Obviously, you know, the film is present day, so to bring in that whole Communist aspect of the character might be a little bit dated.

On singing on for a multi-picture deal and its pressures: We have a vested interest in our characters, as well. I mean, I didn’t go into this going, ‘Oh, this is the last I ever want to see of this character.’ I want—I would love to see the character come back and, sort of, as I was saying, kind of reveal more about herself. I loved making the film. I loved working with Jon (Favreau). I loved working with Robert (Downey Jr.). And, so, you know, for me, as an actor, we kind of have a beginning, middle and end, and a one-and-a-half or two-hour segment or whatever, and we’re done with it. So, for me to be able to bring something like this back and kind of develop the character is exciting and something we don’t normally get to do as actors.

Brent Specher of SDCC got a lucky chance to sit down with the Black Widow herself! Scarlett Johansson discusses her role as Black Widow and the black castuit costume that had a lot of men, boys, and even women, anticipating the movie. Read on and enjoy!

On her skin-tight superhero catsuit: I had a bit of a freak-out moment. Well, it was more seeing the–’cause the costume took a while to build it, obviously, but I saw some of the sketches and I knew what to expect because I had obviously seen the kind of later incarnation of the character. I knew that it was going to be some kind of cat suit of some kind. So, I had a freak-out moment, but that only lasted about, you know, half-a-day and I was like, ‘Suck it up, you gotta just do it,’ so I never turned back after that. I just went, like, full force. – Oh Scarlett, with a body like that, don’t freak out!

On her worries about the costume affecting her performance: But, as far as the action sequences go, and how the costume relates to that–one thing that’s obviously important to my character is that the costume moves, the character is, you know, an expert of hand-to-hand combat, she’s a mixed martial artist, she comes from a dance background, there’s some gymnastics thrown in–it’s kind of like everything all thrown into one big, sort of, fighting machine. So, a big part of me was like, “Can I move in this, can I run in it?”

Scarlett Johansson has been having mixed reviews in being chosen as the Black Widow. But I guess with the teaser pictures, the comic series’ fanboys and fangirls can be rest assured that the 24-year-old actress fits the bill quite nicely.

With the release of the movie underway, Marvel Comics gives a push to the Black Widow character by launching a four-issue Black Widow: Deadly Origins mini-book series.

Paul Cornell, the writer of the series told Comic Book Resources: “The plot connects back to all these different times in her life, as she tries to save everyone she ever kissed from something deadly. A real Black Widow’s curse. That was one of my favorite times for her, by the way, when she was living in L.A. with Daredevil and being all fatalistic.” Oh! She lived with Daredevil?!

Paul goes on to say that although Natasha Romanoff, aka the Black Widow, is not defined by the men in her past, they are all defined by her in a somewhat fatal way.

“It’s about the past coming after Natalia seeking revenge, and the present not being able to do a thing about it. So she’s on her own. And that’s fine, because she’s never seen herself as being anything else,” says Paul.

He added: “When we first meet her in this series, she’s actually just been born. We’re following one particular mission during the main part of the story, but one which touches on various different aspects of her history, leading us to flashbacks that show previously unseen moments from all the different phases of her life.”

Oooohhhh…interesting!

Scarlett Johansson has serious issues with her hair.

The 24-year old actress has colored her naturally blonde locks flame red, brunette, and a much-lighter peroxide blonde. And now, she has hit the dye bottle again and came out with a color that critics have been arguing on what to call: ginger or caramel honey shade. Hmmmm…With her picture shown, what do you think? Ginger or caramel blonde?

The award-winning Hollywood actress showed her gorgeous and sexy self at the Los Angeles Shorts Film Festival in California on Friday evening dressed in a demure cream dress and her trademark red lipstick, which she admittedly “saves” for the red carpet.

A while back, ScarJo showed off her sultry, straight brunette locks in the premiere of her last movie, He’s Just Not That Into You, an event that many critics have said made her upstage her co-stars, Drew Barrymore and Jennifer Aniston. Oh well, if the two popular actresses felt upstaged, they didn’t say anything about it.

Anyways, after her stint as a brunette, she changed hair color again for her new movie, Iron Man 2, which entails her to have fiery red locks for her role as Russian spy, Black Widow.

After her movie shoot, she was seen in a publicity campaign for popular clothing line, Mango, sporting a deep auburn look. For the promotional ads itself, Scarlett was photographed in her more natural (and more recognizable) tousled blonde locks.

And now, finally, she returns back to her roots, or as close as her fashionista self will allow, for the film festival premiere of her short, These Vagabond Shoes, with her ginger-cum-caramel blonde locks.

When you’re a 36-year old actress, being “upstaged” by a younger, 24-year old one will have to hurt.

Or that’s what the rumormill has been churning around with regards to Gwyneth Paltrow and Scarlett Johansson. Both beautiful ladies are set to star in the highly-anticipated sequel of Iron Man. And rumor has it that the beauteous Gwyneth has her nose all out of joint because her younger and, dare I say, sexier co-star, ScarJo, has been getting all the limelight for the new film.

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Like many Hollywood actresses, Scarlett Johansson is also fascinated by the fine elegance of Britain’s dames.

The actress said that she would love to work, in any way, with the likes of Dame Helen Mirren or Dame Judi Dench. She would even volunteer to be a director, or a craft service volunteer, just to be around the same set as them.

“I love Helen Mirren,” Scarlett admitted. “Who wouldn’t want to work with her as an actor or director. I’d probably be her wardrobe mistress if she’d let me.”

Scarlett added: “(Britain has) so many fantastic (actors) - Judi Dench is incredible.”

“I mean to be able to work with an actress like that as a director or even standing behind the craft service table would be exciting.”

The aspiring director in her admitted that she has already learned how working with the best talents (actors and actresses) produces the best results in movies.

“It’s funny because I’ve been making movies for maybe 15 years and for me I feel like it’s a process I grew up with. Certainly I’ve learned that to make the best movie you can make, you hire the best people that you can hire.”

Hmmmm… with all her movie experiences with Woody Allen, do you think he has taught her a thing or two about directing and producing? Oh well, let’s just see how her directorial debut does in the Short Film festival this year and let’s see if Scarlett would be better off as an actor or if she has a bright future off the cam. Best of luck, Scarlett!

For all those addicted to the Iron Man comic books, Marvel Comics will release a four-book miniseries that will look back on the Black Widow, the role played none other than Scarlett Johansson.

The mini-series is written by Paul Cornell, the man behind the greats such as Doctor Who, Captain Britain, and MI:13. Here is his enthusiastic low-down on the new Black Widow series:

On her character and attitude: She’s been very different people all through her life, but always deadly, and, I like to think, funny. Not in a one-liner way, but with a very dry, somewhat cynical, wit. I’m looking to find the Sean Connery in her.

On his inspiration while writing about Black Widow: I’m going to have my collected James Bond themes on all the time while I’m writing it. Lots of fist fights, hi-tech battles, the sort of extreme superhero hedonism you expect from the Iron Man movies, pre-titles sequences and movie poster splash pages.

The story will see Natasha Romanoff, aka the Black Widow, and her history of how she became a super-agent. It traces her past with a biological weapon that she has unknowingly passed on to her former love interests, which will put the lives of famous heroes such as Hawkeye, Daredevil, and of course, Iron Man, at stake.

I’m not much of a fan of comic books, but I always like to know why a certain character acts that way. It would be pretty interesting to learn about the history of the character that almost everyone in comic book-dom doubted Scarlett Johansson could play. Oh well, goo luck to you Scarlett!

Wow! Ryan Reynolds is on a roll, and it does not look like it’s stopping anytime soon.

Scarlett Johansson’s hubby, who has gained international interest in his roles in Wolverine and The Proposal, is set to do another much-anticipated movie. That of The Green Lantern. If this pulls through, he will be the only actor ever to portray two characters from rival comic book giants, Marvel and DC. Ryan will portray Marvel’s Deadpool and DC’s Green Lantern, which are both targeted for release in 2011. Wow! One anti-hero and one hero movie each. Not bad! Either way, I’m sure that these roles would catapult him into blockbuster-dom.

“Ryan Reynolds is going to be cast,” an unnamed source discloses. “He’s as good as got the job. They are literally just waiting to sign contracts and get all the final details tied up, but the role is his.”

Ryan beat out Justin Timberlake, Bradley Cooper, and Jared Leto. Hmmm…interesting. Did you notice it?

All four of them were involved with Scarlett Johansson at least at one point. Justin was rumored to be her boyfriend and even shot a music video with him. Bradley Cooper had an affair with her in the hit rom-com, He’s Just Not That Into You. And Jared Leto had a brief affair with her. But Ryan, of course, brings home the cake, because he is the only one who got her to say “Yes” to his SMS proposal. Great guy, that Ryan.

Anyways, the Green Lantern story line will feature Ryan as Alan Scott, a brilliant engineer, who has come into possession of a magic lantern (how, I do not know). He then gets the idea to craft a magic ring, which could give him a wide variety of powers. The limitations of the ring were that it had to be “charged” every 24 hours by touching it to the lantern for a time, and that it did not work on wood. The movie will be directed by Martin Campbell.

After a few weeks of just seeing hubby, Ryan Reynolds in the limelight, Scarlett Johansson has come out to share it with him.

Scarlett is the latest celebrity to endorse the clothing line, Mango. She replaces Vicki Christina Barcelona co-star, Penelope Cruz, who was the face for Mango for the past four seasons. Since the beginning of the Mango Campaign, renowned stars like Milla Jovovich, Naomi Campbell, and Diane Kruger have all taken their stint as endorsers.

Mango held ScarJo’s coming-out party at the Santo Mauro Hotel, Madrid, Spain. Why did Mango choose her? Well, it’s because “the beautiful actress for her extraordinary personality, which embodies the ideal of the urban, independent and cosmopolitan woman MANGO wishes to dress. A woman who is serene and elegant, yet fun-loving and youthful all at the same time.”

For the Mango print-ads, ScarJo brings back the punk ‘80s feel. Who knew that tattered tights could be so sexy? Anyways, I do hope, for ScarJo’s sake that the leopard-print fur she’s donning for the ads are fake, or risk the angry disapproval of animal activists. The gorgeous pictures were taken by famous photographer, Mario Sorrenti.

Hmmmm, from the pictures, Scarlett Johansson looks as far from being a mommy than she possibly can. She’s really sultry and sexy in these photos. I wonder what she think of husband, Ryan Reynolds’s statement that he is interested in adopting? Do you think ScarJo is willing to become a mom anytime soon? If that’s the case, then sate your eyes on her gorgeous pictures before the mommyhood makes her busy in the upcoming months. Enjoy!

Today has certainly been a day of surprises! First, I find out that Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo have allegedly called it quits, with Jess being the dumpee and Tony being the dumper (read more on it in my SimpsonWatch blog!) and now I read about Scarlett Johansson and hubby, Ryan Ryenolds wanting to adopt! Or at least Ryan does, anyway.

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I’ve noticed that both Scarlett and Natalie choose roles that essentially show out a strong side of women. Think, Natalie Portman’s Star Wars’s Queen Amidala, V for Vendetta’s Evey, Cold Mountain’s Sara and Scarlett Johansson’s Match Point’s Nola Rice, The Island’s Jordan Two Delta, and A Good Woman’s Meg Windermere.

On choosing strong female roles:

Natalie: I want to do things that are real people. Women can be weak or vulnerable or strong—they can be not very smart, or brilliant. There’s not one kind of woman out there, and I think it’s important to portray a wide variety. I have recently been getting frustrated—I don’t know if you have this experience, [Scarlett], since we probably read the same variety of what’s out there. The number of roles for strippers or prostitutes, or the opposite, like ‘She’s the moral center of the film. She’s the pure one. She’s the one who makes the man realize who he should be.’ That’s sort to the dichotomy that exists so strongly. It’s the virgin/whore thing in evidence, to the greatest extent. That’s really been bothering me. To find a character who’s complicated like the women in this film is very, very exciting. Also, I love comedies, so much. Any time I read a comedy it’s like the girl is in fashion, she’s really into clothes, she just wants to get married. Those are not values that I care to jump the bandwagon on. I would love to do a comedy, I would love to do a romantic comedy. You don’t find any where the woman has, like, a real job. Joining the “All I care about is fashion and boys,” that’s not what I am. It is frustrating.

Scarlett: I absolutely agree with Natalie. I found strengths in every character that I’ve played. Even if it is a vulnerable person or someone who’s easily manipulated, there are strengths to every personality. Even if I wasn’t looking for a girl power kind of role, maintaining integrity in a character is a positive thing for women to see. It’s inspiring for women of all ages.