MCU's Black Widow Almost Quit Acting When This Movie Saved Her Career (It's Not Avengers)
It may be hard to believe but Scarlett Johansson wanted to quit her career not too long ago.
Luckily, one role got her to reconsider, and we didn't lose our Black Widow.
Scarlett Johansson started acting as early as nine years old, and her career started off really strong. As she landed a lead role in Robert Redford's The Horse Whisperer, everyone thought her rise was inevitable.
Apparently, the actress herself didn't feel that way at all.
For many upcoming years, Scarlett was only bagging the roles she wasn't comfortable with: instead of allowing her to grow as an actress and showcase her talent, she was being "pigeonholed" and "hyper-sexualized."
After years of frustration, Johansson was ready to give up her acting career as she saw no change.
At the time, the one thing that prevented the actress from leaving was her recurrent role in the Marvel Universe.
Despite being initially disappointed with how "underdeveloped and over-sexualized," her Black Widow was, Scarlett worked on the character development and was finally satisfied. She stayed with MCU.
However, the roles Johansson was getting in the meantime were still not good enough. In her book, it was the same thing, over and over again.
As an actress, Scarlett was unhappy with the way her career was heading — and once again, she was considering quitting altogether after she'd be done with the Black Widow role.
The movie that finally turned the tide came from Taika Waititi. Scarlett had already known the director who worked with her friend Chris Hemsworth on the Thor franchise, and when the latter told her about Waititi's new project, she was immediately interested. Soon, Scarlett Johansson bagged a role in Jojo Rabbit.
Since she'd never played a mother before, getting the role of a middle-of-the-century German mother hiding a Jewish girl in her basement was new to Scarlett.
It was a big challenge, but a welcome one: finally, she got to really use and hone her acting talent!
Needless to say, she nailed it perfectly: for her performance in Jojo Rabbit, the actress received an Oscar nod and a whole lot of praise.
What's more important is that thanks to this movie, Scarlett Johansson started to believe in herself and her career again. Feeling confident, she decided to keep acting.
After Jojo Rabbit, she started getting more diverse and dramatic roles, and this was exactly what Scarlett was looking for.
Now, she feels much better about herself and her portfolio — and unexpectedly, we have Taika Waititi's sole project to thank for that and not MCU.