Actor Scarlett Johansson, known for several hit characters including Lucy, Lost in Translation, Her and the critically acclaimed Black Widow, has been noticing a shift in the roles that are being offered to women.
The actor, who has been in the industry for over three decades, shared that she would often be offered roles that are centred on "desirability" and the goals and needs of her male counterparts. However, she feels that times are changing and Hollywood has been significantly shifting its gears to give better roles for women.
In an interview with The Times of London, Johansson said, "when I was younger, a lot of the roles I was offered, or I went for, had their ambitions or character arcs revolving around their own desirability, or the male gaze, or a male-centred story. That is less frequent, though — something has shifted."
She further added, "The messaging is different — there are many more role models, women are visible in powerful positions and the opportunities I have had to play women who don’t have to just be one thing or another have increased."
The noted actor had earlier spoken out about being typecast in stereotypical roles she described as "sex objects". She underlined that she was "hypersexualised" at a young age to an extent that she thought it would be impossible to try other roles. "I remember thinking to myself, ‘I think people think I’m 40 years old.’ It somehow stopped being something that was desirable and something that I was fighting against." She also highlighted how after Lost in Translation (2003), every role she was offered was "the girlfriend", "the other woman" and "a sex object".
She further commented that her representatives back then did not actively work to steer her away from these roles, suggesting that "they were reacting to the norm. The industry worked like that forever."
Johansson made her big screen debut as a child actor at the age of nine in North (1994). She was recently seen in Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme and is awaiting the release of Jurassic World Rebirth, which is slated to hit theatres on July 2. Her directorial debut Eleanor the Great, had its world premiere last month at Cannes.