Scarlett Johansson just pulled off something huge, she made her directorial debut with Eleanor the Great, and even though the experience was complete chaos, she says it felt “pretty natural.”
The 40-year-old actress stepped behind the camera for the first time with this indie drama starring June Squibb and Chiwetel Ejiofor, and she didn’t exactly ease into it. In fact, she jokes that the movie basically fell apart every single day during filming.
Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, Scarlett admitted she wasn’t sure she had what it took to direct actors at first. “I didn’t know what it would feel like at all, and I didn’t necessarily have the confidence,” she said. “But then in doing it, I realized that I’m always working with actors, during rehearsals, blocking, giving notes, so that part felt almost immediately pretty natural.”
She knew this project was something she wanted to lead from the moment she read the script. Scarlett said that usually she doesn’t get the urge to direct something just from reading it, but this one hit differently. “The script was so moving and had so much potential that, weirdly, I felt certain I could do it.”
But nothing about the production came easy. She admitted that getting the film made was an uphill battle. “It would be easier to make a sequel to a $180 million movie or something mediocre in a genre,” she said. “But getting funding for an original story, with a 94-year-old lead actor, was very, very, very challenging.”
And then came the madness of the actual shoot. “Every day the movie fell apart in 400 different ways,” she laughed. One of the biggest disasters? The independent financing company that was supposed to fund the film suddenly backed out, unless Scarlett agreed to cut the entire plot device that drove the whole story. “It was crazy. At that point, everything just fell apart.”
Still, she powered through, and her actors appreciated her vision. June Squibb, who plays the lead in the film, had glowing words for Scarlett. “She’s so down-to-earth. We met on that level immediately,” June said. “With her knowledge as an actress, she knew what I was doing, where I was going, and how I was shifting everything. That’s rare. Not every director has that kind of understanding.”
It might’ve been a mess behind the scenes, but Scarlett clearly proved she can handle it. Between the creative spark she felt and the chaos she managed, it’s obvious this won’t be her last time directing. And let’s be honest, if your debut film falls apart in 400 ways and still gets made, you’re doing something right.
