Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City is drawing a lot of attention for its unique old movie set-like aesthetic. However, one of the major talking points of the film has become a nude scene of Scarlett Johansson. In the film, Johansson has a double role. She’s a troupe member during the New York sequences as well as a film star, Midge Campbell, in the realm of Asteroid City.
She and Dinah, her daughter played by Grace Edwards, flock to the desert town called Asteroid City for the Junior Stargazer convention. There she meets Jason Schwartzman’s Augie Steenbeck. As they get closer, Midge reveals to him that she has a nude scene during her performance and then shows him! So how did Wes Anderson direct it? Not quite well.
Scarlett Johansson Revealed Director’s Reluctance In Directing Her Nude Scene
In an interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, Scarlett Johansson revealed that Wes Anderson was not comfortable directing her nude scene. She said that the director was left tongue-tied when it was time to direct that scene. She said:
“Wes is probably the worst person to talk to about anything like that. He’s so uncomfortable around that topic. I’ll leave it up to your imagination [how that went]. There was a lot of throat clearing and [Wes] sort of hiding his face.”
The Black Widow actress clarified that she didn’t feel uncomfortable while filming her nude scene. It’s humorous to hear that the acclaimed director known for his exacting standards was shy while directing such a scene. But, what does Johansson feel about doing nudity on-screen? Once the Her star revealed that in some ways it was liberating for her.
Scarlett Johansson Felt Liberated As A Result Of Doing Nude Scenes
In an interview with Yahoo! Movies for her film Under the Skin, Scarlett Johansson revealed that she doesn’t feel discomfort while filming the scenes where she has to shed her clothes. This is because she simply lets herself feel what her character is feeling even though in real life she’s a private person.
Johansson said:
“I’m a pretty private person. It’s not like I want to be displaying myself all over the place… But I think I realized that through the process of just letting go, and allowing myself as the character to be totally present in the moment, and making the discovery of my own self, as [my character] does… I realized what kind of judgment I place on myself… That, in a sense, was very liberating.”
Asteroid City has been receiving mixed reviews from audiences although critics have praised it a lot. It currently holds a 73% Rotten Tomatoes critic score and a 50% audience score. However, the scores are expected to go up because there’s interest in the project thanks to its unique Wes Anderson visual style.
Asteroid City is releasing on 23 May 2023.
Source: Yahoo
