'Nobody's Baby,' But Everyone's Cover Girl
Monday, February 9, 2015 at 12:00PM
NATHANIEL R in Scarlett Johansson, The Avengers, celebrity portraiture, magazines

Another wave of Scarlett Johansson mania is nearly upon us courtesy of The Age of Ultron. Here she is very late seventies/early eighties styled for W magazine's spring issue

Photography by Mert Alas

As a child in New York, Johansson was fascinated with every aspect of show business. “I had a big imagination,” she said. “I particularly loved Judy Garland, and, to me, she did it all. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be an actor. And I wanted to do everything. When you’re a kid, they send you on a lot of commercial auditions, and I was terrible at selling things. I never got those parts. I remember crying in the subway, and my mom said, ‘Look—let’s forget it. Do something else.’ And I replied, ‘No. You can’t take this away from me. I want to be an actor!’ Waiting for the B train, I had my come-to-Jesus moment.”

So Johansson (and her mother, who became her manager) decided she would audition only for films. In addition to a precocious mix of sexy and cute, even as a girl, Johansson had a trump card: her deep, slightly hoarse, smoky speaking voice. 

This new W magazine profile is by Lynn Hirschberg and Scarlett shares that the black hair in Under the Skin was her idea. A good one! Strangely the photos for this article aren't up despite a link saying they are.

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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