Scarlett Johansson covers the premiere issue of Vanity Fair France. Can you believe that France never had their own edition of Vanity Fair all this time? Weird. Anyway, I don’t think much of the photoshoot – ScarJo looks pretty boring and I usually think she’s overrated as a model. I’m assuming they were aiming for a “Young Catherine Deneuve” vibe, but I think we Americans need to acknowledge that we’re never going to produce an American woman who can pull off the Deneuve vibe.

Michel Denisot, the new editorial director of Vanity Fair France, said ScarJo “has every quality imaginable — the elegance, beauty, wit and impertinence that would make her a perfectly decent Parisian if she decides to move permanently into the apartment she has bought in Paris not far from here.” Wait, what? ScarJo bought an apartment in Paris?! That must be because she’s dating that Frenchman, Romain Dauriac. I bet she keeps the apartment longer than she keeps the boyfriend, amirite?

By the way, I think many French people might find Scarlett a bit impertinent and self-absorbed these days, considering she recently filed a lawsuit against a French author and publisher for using her name in association with a character in a fictional book. The author doesn’t call the character Scarlett Johansson, the character is merely described as looking a lot like ScarJo:

Scarlett Johansson is seeking to avenge the unauthorized use of her name in a French novel in a suit filed against publisher JC Lattes. She’s seeking compensation and damages from the “breach and fraudulent use of personal rights,” as well as a ban on “future transfer of rights and adaptations of the book.”

In the novel The First Thing We Look At, a woman shows up at the door of a mechanic in the northern village of Somme seeking help. At first the mechanic believes she is ‘Scarlett Johansson,’ though sixty pages later it is revealed she is not the actress but simply a doppelganger named Jeanine Foucaprez.

Author Gregoire Delacourt told newspaper Le Figaro that he was “stunned” when he was informed of the suit Friday morning, and also noted that he compared the main male character to Ryan Gosling and his boss to Gene Hackman in the book as an almost immediate way to invoke recognition of characteristics for readers.

“This corresponds with the fantasies of our times. All these famous people live with us,” he said, noting that many personal details of Johansson’s love life have been revealed on the Internet and the public feels as if it knows her. “But I wrote a book of fiction. My character is not Scarlett Johansson, it is Jeanine Foucaprez!”

He describes the novel as an exploration of the “dictatorship of appearances and the true beauty of women,” and says he chose Johansson, currently the face of Dolce & Gabbana and previously Louis Vuitton, because she is considered the “epitome of beauty today.”

The First Thing We Look At has been a best-seller in France since its release on March 20.

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

If the fictional character was more broadly associated with ScarJo the celebrity, and if the character was actually a derogatory depiction (like, if the character was a child molester or something), I would have some sympathy for Scarlett in this situation. But as it is… not so much. She’s a public figure and this is fair use. I think if the lawsuit was filed in America, it would be thrown out completely, but I don’t know how the French courts deal with this kind of nuisance lawsuit.

Photos courtesy of VF France.