Scarlett Johansson on Hollywood Today: ‘A Different Time for Young Women’

Scarlett Johansson grew up in the spotlight. She made her film debut in 1994 in the fantasy comedy North. She’s been subjected to the glare of paparazzi flashbulbs and was already being cast in hyper-sexualized roles while most girls her age were still watching Disney Channel and Nickelodeon shows. Fortunately, ScarJo said that Hollywood is now changing for the better, compared to when she started. 

In a recent interview with The Times of London, Johansson revealed that the early offers to her are usually about “desirability.” However, she believes that Hollywood today is now “a different time for young women.” 

She also credits the shift to role models: “The messaging is different — there are many more role models, women are visible in powerful positions and the opportunities I have had to play women who don’t have to just be one thing or another have increased.” She noticed that it was different from when she was younger and the roles offered to her or she auditioned for, “had their ambitions or character arcs revolving around their own desirability, or the male gaze, or a male-centered story. That is less frequent, though — something has shifted.” 

In a 2022 appearance on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast via Variety, Johansson feared her career was over after being hypersexualized at a young age. The actress and singer explained, “I kind of became objectified and pigeonholeed in this way where I felt like I wasn’t getting offers for work for things that I wanted to do. I remember thinking to myself, ‘I think people think I’m 40 years old.’ It somehow stopped being something that was desirable and something that I was fighting against.” 

She added, “I felt like [my career] was over. It was like: that’s the kind of career you have, these are the roles you’ve played. And I was like, ‘This is it?’” 

Fortunately, she’s still around with a thriving career to see the changes in how young women get to have a career in Hollywood: “I see younger actors that are in their 20s, it feels like they’re allowed to be all these different things.” She added, “We’re not even allowed to really pigeonhole other actors anymore, thankfully, right? People are much more dynamic.” 

Johansson is most known for her MCU role as Black Widow. Currently, she stars as Zora Bennett in Jurassic World: Rebirth, which premiered on June 17 and is scheduled for a theatrical release on July 2.