Scarlett Johansson is a successful Hollywood actress, born in New York City in 1984. She is known for her raspy voice and warm persona and has received major success for her acting abilities. In fact, she was ranked in 2018 as the world’s highest-paid actress. Not too bad, huh?
It’s wonderful to see how far she has come in her career and we can’t wait to see what roles she will wow us with in the future. For now, though, let’s take a look at some forgotten Scarlet Johansson roles. While some of these films were filled with brilliant wit and deserve to be re-watched, others were major flops. What were some of these movies? Let’s find out.
The Spongebob Squarepants Movie: Mindy
Princess Mindy is a mermaid who appears in The Spongebob Squarepants Movie as the daughter of King Neptune. She intelligently uses her “mermaid magic” as a placebo effect to help Spongebob and Patrick believe in themselves, in order to finish their quest when they are just about to give up.
What makes her character stand out the most is her calming and husky voice, which could only properly be mastered by the one and only Scarlett Johansson (who was only 19 when she took on the role). Her tone of voice manages to give the animated character a level of warmth that ScarJo has always been able to so effortlessly exude. Johansson’s portrayal of Princess Mindy would be the first of many roles she would soon take on that would require voice acting. The movie gained a cult following for children and young adults alike who have grown up watching the adventures and mishaps inside Bikini Bottom.
The Nanny Diaries: Annie
In The Nanny Diaries, Johansson takes on the role of Annie, an NYU student who is just trying to pay off her student loans while at the same time struggles to pay rent in New York City. So what does she do to make ends meet? She takes on a job as a Nanny on the Upper East Side. It can’t be too awful of a job, right? Wrong!
While most nannies have it quite easy, Annie has the most complicated job experience of all time, which makes working for the CIA seem like a total breeze in comparison. Not only does Annie have to deal with an extremely bratty kid, but she also has to deal with his overly spoiled mother. The movie itself did not receive much critical praise, with a 34% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Other Boleyn Girl: Mary
The Other Boleyn Girl tells the real-life stories of King Henry VIII (Eric Bana) and the Boleyn sisters, who are caught in a romantic love triangle with the king. Anne Boleyn (Natalie Portman) is wed to King Henry, despite the fact that he is in love with her sister, Mary Boleyn (Scarlett Johansson).
The film is based on the novel of the same title by Philippa Gregory, which became a number 1 best seller for The New York Times. Although the novel received high praise, the movie version of The Other Boleyn Girl struggled, despite its stellar cast. Unfortunately, the film takes away from the fascinating true story of the Boleyn sisters and instead inaccurately portrays the events to be more relative to that of a “chick flick” soap opera.
He’s Just Not That Into You: Anna
He’s Just Not That Into You is a 2009 film which is based on the book of the same name (and the Sex and the City episode where Berger tells Miranda that she shouldn’t waste her time moping over a man who clearly lacks interest in her). The movie tells a series of stories which follow these characters on their romantic endeavours, which, for the most part, end in total disaster.
Johansson’s character is portrayed as the femme fatale who is out to get with a married man (played by Bradley Cooper). She ultimately realizes the mess she and Cooper created and ditches him to focus on her music career instead. The film received negative reviews for its stereotypical portrayal of men and women and its string of rom-com cliches.
The Perfect Score: Francesca
The Perfect Score is a 2004 movie produced by MTV Films, about a group of high schoolers who decide to steal all of the answers to their SAT questions. One of these high schoolers is ScarJo, who plays the most daring one of all. The teens attempt to cheat on their SATs in an effort to achieve all of their wildest dreams while getting into top-notch universities.
With the pressure they receive from parents and teachers, it almost seems justified that they would stoop this low in order to get everyone off of their backs. This, unfortunately, does not offer a great set of morals for the target audience it hopes to appeal to.
Her: Samantha
Her is a 2013 Oscar award-winning film starring Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson, about a man who falls in love with his virtual assistant. Spike Jonze’s creation has been named the “Best Original Screenplay” of the year, and justifiably so. Johansson plays Phoenix’s virtual assistant who is really an artificial intelligence bot, humanized by her voice which takes on the form of a flirtatious, pixie-like woman.
The film accurately satirizes our generation’s relationship with digital technology and the obsession we have with our phones. Although Her takes place in the future, it seems as though we are already living in this lonely time period of techno-isolation. Hopefully, this film will allow viewers to put these issues into perspective.
We Bought A Zoo: Kelly
We Bought a Zoo is a 2011 film starring Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson. In it, Damon plays a single father who is struggling to take care of his kids after the passing of his wife, while maintaining a job that he despises. In an effort to shake things up and build a happier life, he decides to quit his job and moves to a property which happens to be a dilapidated zoo with over 47 wild animals.
Johansson’s character plays Kelly, a caretaker of the animals who hopes to reopen the zoo to the public. The family works to adjust to this strange new lifestyle, and is able to create a number of heart-warming moments and memories along the way. The film received mixed reviews, being described as both predictable and formulaic while at the same time heart-warming and sweet.
Home Alone 3: Molly
When Johansson was roughly 12 years old, she took on the role of Molly Pruitt (Alex’s older sister) in Home Alone 3. The plot centers around a group of criminals who are trying to get their hands onto a stolen computer chip which fell into the hands of young Alex by mistake.
The Pruitts are fully prepared to take down these adult thieves in this classic third installment of John Hughes’ family comedy series. It is separate from the first two Home Alone films because of the absence of Macaulay Culkin, who refused to take on the role. It received poor reviews for its lack of inspiration and its pointless premise.
The Jungle Book: Kaa
Scarlett Johansson proves once again to be the queen of voice acting. In 2016, she took on the role of Kaa in the live action version of the classic Disney film, The Jungle Book. Disney fans praised the 2016 reboot of The Jungle Book as being one of the very few live-action Disney remakes that successfully managed to outshine the original. By this point, ScarJo’s voice is so iconic, it is impossible not to recognize her husky charm through her portrayal of the villainous snake.
Scarlett had this to say about the role:“In this film, Kaa is more of a storyteller… she’s a mirror into the past for Mowgli… for me, it was kind of exciting to reinvent this character.”
Ghost World: Rebecca
Ghost World (2001) is an extremely underrated indie film based off the comic by Daniel Clowes. Scarlett plays Rebecca, a sardonic high schooler who is best friends with Thora Birch’s character, Enid. Often compared to Daria with its deadpan introverted misfits taking on leading roles, Ghost World analyzes these hipster non-conformists as regular teenagers who share the same struggles and insecurities as everybody else.
The film has received high critical praise and Empire has this to say about Terry Zwiggoff’s offbeat indie movie: “This is ’teen comedy’ of startling sophistication - with horribly funny bits. A true original, with sharp humour, subtle detail and painfully realistic characters.”
