Scarlett Johansson Battled Alarming Health Issue While Filming 'Black Widow' -- Director Details
"Black Widow" director Cate Shortland detailed how filming the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie almost costed Scarlet Johansson's life.
In a new candid interview, Shortland recalled the time Johansson - as well as Florence Pugh - had to face threatening health condition as they continued the production of the Marvel movie.
The Gentlewoman magazine recently featured Johansson in its pages where the actress and the director detailed the draining film shooting.
According to Johansson, participating in the movie was like being in the army.
In May 2018, the MCU film turned on its cameras until it wrapped filming in October 2019. The team had to fly from one country to another as they chose multiple shooting locations, including Morocco, Norway, Hungary, U.K., and the U.S.
The pressure of "Black Widow" being the second female-led movie after "Captain Marvel" in 2019 added more pressure to Johansson.
"She really pushed to make something that wasn't flimsy or superficial. She wanted to make something that meant a lot to young people and to women," Shortland said. "And she knew it was possibly her last film as Black Widow - she didn't want to leave Marvel making a feel-good movie."
"Black Widow" will reportedly serve as the actress' last movie in MCU. Her character already appeared in eight other MCU movies.
What "Black Widow" Will Be All About
Johansson's upcoming film is set after the events in "Captain America: Civil War." Despite that, Shortland clarified that it would serve as the place of transition between Natasha Romanoff and Florence Pugh's Belova.
With that said, the director detailed the possibility of making Pugh appear in other future MCU movies.
Johansson appeared in a separate interview with Entertainment Tonight last year where she revealed that "Black Widow" will give her character the closure she deserves. She also told Total Film that Pugh has always been the most ideal actress to be the next Black Widow.
"She stands completely on her own. She's strong and different. She's so different to Natasha," she added"You also see the generational difference, too, in how they react to things, and what they're careful about, or what they're careless about... It's so fresh what she does."
The female-led installment will finally arrive in theaters and on Disney Plus on July 9. In addition, "Black Widow" serves as the first movie in the MCU Phase 4.
