The Other Boleyn Girl - Scarlett Johansson interview
Interview by Rob Carnevale
SCARLETT Johansson talks about playing Mary Boleyn in The Other Boleyn Girl, learning about the etiquette of the time and forthcoming projects, including another English historical epic and her first music album…
Q. Was there ever any discussion about swapping roles – so that you played Anne Boleyn? Because these are both really rich roles…
Scarlett Johansson: No because when I was first offered the character Natalie [Portman] was attached to play Anne and I’d been a huge fan of hers for a long time. So, I never even thought about it. But like you said, they’re both very complex characters and it would have been a challenge to play either role.
Q. How helpful was it to have an etiquette adviser on the set? And was there anything you learned about your character that surprised you?
Scarlett Johansson: It was helpful to have the etiquette supervisor on set just for things like how to carry my hands, how deeply would I curtsy, would I nod towards this servant or hand-maiden, or how close would our relationship be, how long have we known each other? It was those kind of things that were interesting to find out and very helpful. It added to the freshness and authenticity of the period. As far as finding out about my character went, I struggled to find anything, really, other than land ownership or husbandry. I only had the book really as a reference because I couldn’t find anything really other than the fact that Mary had one – if not two – children by Henry VIII and that was really it.
Q. As a 21st Century woman how easy was it to get your head around the way your character was treated by men at the time – especially in terms of Anne’s father, who was prepared to auction her off to the highest bidder?
Scarlett Johansson: Well, it would be silly to assume that it doesn’t still happen in other parts of the world. I’ve been travelling and seen the kind of limitations that are put on women in certain countries and really feel grateful to have grown up in a society where both my parents always encouraged my sister and I. They’d tell me that for a girl I was really strong. They told us we could do whatever we want and were never limited because of our gender. Both Natalie and I have had a lot of these questions about women moving so far forward from this period but in many parts of the world it’s not that way.
Q. How difficult was it to master the upper crust English accent?
Scarlett Johansson: Both are difficult in their own ways. I think for both Natalie and I as Americans it places a restriction on the intonation. Americans have this tendency to emphasise every single word that we say, whereas there were choice words here. So, it’s a challenge but it’s a fun one.
Q. How did you cope with the English weather? I gather you cheated one time and used a hot water bottle to stay warm at Dover Castle?
Scarlett Johansson: I guess the location guy failed to tell anyone that there was going to be a wind vortex at a certain hour of the day [laughs]. So, come 3pm it was like: “Run! Everybody inside!” We’d just have to pack up and people were being blown along in these huge skirts. It was unbelievable.
Q. I believe you’re going on to play Mary, Queen of Scots. Is that true?
Scarlett Johansson: It is true. Phillip Noyce is directing it and I think we’re going to be shooting in the summertime. It’ll be an adventure, that’s for sure, and it’s the whole story from her return to Scotland to her execution.
Q. Can you tell us a little bit about your new album?
Scarlett Johansson: To cut a long story short, I’m very excited about it. It was a great project to have the opportunity to explore and I couldn’t really pass it up. It was really kind of an inspiring career change for a bit, so I look forward to having it come out.
Read our review of The Other Boleyn Girl