This Scarlett Johansson interview in The Independent (UK) is several days old. But it’s been a slow-burner, for good reason. Scarlett seems… how do I put this? “Conceited” feels like the wrong word. She’s full of herself, obviously. She puffs herself up, she has a very high opinion of herself. I admire confidence in a woman (and a man), but I also appreciate some humility, some pragmatism, some acknowledgment that blowing smoke up your own ass is a neat party trick and not much more. You can read the full Independent piece here – it’s one of those interviews where the writer has done it in fake “first person” – like it’s actually Scarlett sitting down and writing out her thoughts in essay form. It’s not a good medium for Scarlett’s brain farts, let me tell you.

I never wanted to be a sex symbol I wanted to be a character actor. Those are the actors I mostly admire. I think women that are curvy can be pigeonholed in that bombshell thing. It’s not like I actively look for sexy roles. It’s not a requirement that my character be pretty and delicate. I never think about my character being sexy, unless that’s written in.

It’s weird to be a recognisable face I’m not traumatised [by it] but I find it can bring out the worst in humanity sometimes. I’m constantly surprised by how rude people are. You’ll be having an intimate dinner with a friend and there’s somebody on the table behind with a cameraphone pointing at your face. I think, “I would never take a photo of someone without asking.”

When I was younger, my mum made sure I had a relatively normal life I went to school, I had neighbourhood friends, I went to camp. That kind of thing. Also, it was different back then. Recently, the media is unhealthily obsessed with very young actors. They’re very critical of them.

I think I have a little bit of my father’s Danish sense of humour He has a very dry wit. Being half-Danish, we regularly celebrated Danish culture growing up. We’d have a Danish Christmas. My mother is Jewish but we celebrated the holiday, more as a celebration of Danish culture than anything else. We always went to the Danish Seamen’s Church [in New York] and all kinds of festivals.

I don’t answer any questions about my private life I’m not a politician or anything like that, so I shouldn’t have to reveal that. I mean, people have enough. They pry so much that some things need to be personal. I feel no pressure. I just feel pressure to show up to work on time. I don’t feel like I have to be a certain way.

It excited me to play the part in ‘Avengers Assemble’ of a very strong woman Often-times in action films, and in comic-book movies, the female is the damsel in distress or a love interest, something like that. But Black Widow is intimidating. She wasn’t fighting and posing with the wind in her hair! She gets down and dirty – I like that.

I always make decisions based on my emotions I’m not very practical. I think I’m hyper-sensitive and I use that for my job, so there are certainly a lot of differences to Black Widow. She has to remain unfeeling and lukewarm, in a sense. To keep a distance and not make decisions based on her emotions.

I never wanted to play Marilyn Monroe [Johansson was reportedly in the running to play the actress in last year’s My Week with Marilyn.] I don’t know. It’s just a job – I didn’t have the passion for that. I love Marilyn Monroe. She’s a very underrated actor but it just seemed exhausting in a way that I couldn’t wrap my head around.

[From The Independent]

I don’t remember speculation about Scarlett possibly getting the role in My Week With Marilyn. Perhaps it was just a “Who looks most like Marilyn these days?” kind of thing, and Scarlett was never seriously considered for the part. Thank God. Because although I wasn’t in love with the film, I did think Michelle did some of her best work in that movie. Scarlett would have mouth-breathed throughout the role. Which she’ll now be doing throughout the role of Janet Lee in that movie about Alfred Hitchcock.

What do you think of “I think women that are curvy can be pigeonholed in that bombshell thing. It’s not like I actively look for sexy roles. It’s not a requirement that my character be pretty and delicate. I never think about my character being sexy, unless that’s written in”? It’s like she’s saying, “Oh, I know I’m so sexy, but it’s not like I’m trying to be. It’s just something innate for me. I wish I could turn it off. How do you do it?” Eye roll. Besides all of that, I sometimes wonder if Scarlett hasn’t been trying to systematically kill off her sexiness. I remember when she was one of the most desirable women in the world – that was before her divorce, before Sean Penn, before her hair turned into a disaster area for a year. Nowadays, it seems like her default vibe is “kind of busted” rather than “sexy.”

Photos courtesy of WENN.