Scarlett Johansson has spent 30 years wanting to be in a Jurassic universe movie, so tired desperately not to put off producer Steven Spielberg from hiring her by being ‘a humongous weirdo’ about it.
The Hollywood actress, 40, is known for her association with massive franchises like Transformers and, of course, her nine appearances in Marvel movies including Avengers: Endgame, Iron Man 2 and Black Widow as spy and assassin Natasha Romanoff.
But the chance to appear in Jurassic World Rebirth was extra-special for Johansson, she told Metro on the red carpet at Jurassic World Rebirth’s London premiere on Tuesday night.
The new dinosaur movie – the seventh feature-length film in the series – sees the legendary Spielberg executive produce once again, alongside the return of original screenwriter David Koepp.
Spielberg also famously directed 1993’s Jurassic Park and 1997’s follow-up The Lost World: Jurassic Park, both of which were penned by Koepp.
British filmmaker Gareth Edwards – known for his original sci-fi film The Creator as well as directing Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – takes over at the helm for Jurassic World Rebirth. It was him who first tipped off Metro to Johansson’s obsession with the franchise.
He revealed in a forthcoming interview that Spielberg had informed him in a casting meeting that Johansson would ‘kill’ him if she didn’t get the part of extraction expert Zora Bennett.
‘He was basically forced to cast me!’ Johansson laughed when told of Edwards’ story at this evening’s premiere.
Adding her side of the story, she exclusively told Metro: ‘I’ve been chasing the Jurassic universe for three decades. I would have happily played any kind of dino snack!
‘But I knew that they were doing a new one and that there was a part that I potentially could be right for – right age and otherwise – and so I got in there and was like, I’ve got to meet on this! I just want to share my enthusiasm.’
After setting up a general meeting with Spielberg, Johansson then tried to play it cool.
‘[I] tried to not be a humongous weirdo and geek out, but after a couple of hours talking to him he brought it up. He was like, “Oh I think we’re supposed to be talking about Jurassic?” and that was my in,’ she shared.
‘So then I felt comfortable being a total nerd!’
The double Oscar nominee also praised Jurassic World Rebirth’s ‘extraordinary’ wider team for coming together to deliver the film to cinemas less than 12 months after shooting wrapped – and only 16 months after Edwards was announced as director (with no cast in place).
‘We did shoot if for five months, so it wasn’t that fast, but I think Gareth knew… it’s all in the magic of post-production. He put the pedal to the metal,’ Johansson said.
Emphasising the speed, she added: ‘I mean, we were just having a sound mixing conversation like 10 days ago. So it’s really being delivered – it is hot off the presses!
‘And you do that with an extraordinary group of post-production specialists and a big, big team – that’s the way you do it.’
Johansson also produces on the film, in which she co-stars with Wicked actor Jonathan Bailey, two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali, Homeland and Companion star Rupert Friend and Netflix star of The Lincoln Lawyer Manuel Garcia-Rulfo.
Set 32 years after dinosaurs were brought back from extinction thanks to the events of Jurassic Park, Jurassic World Rebirth follows a top-secret expedition including Johannson’s former military operative Bennett, Bailey’s bespectacled palaeontologist Dr Henry Loomis, Friend’s pharmaceutical rep Martin Krebs and Ali’s team leader Duncan Kincaid.
The group braves the forbidden isolated equatorial regions where dinosaurs still roam freely to extract DNA from three massive prehistoric creatures in the hopes of a major medical breakthrough.
However, the island is also home to mutant species who have thrived following man’s experiments on them to appease crowds at the former theme park.
Jurassic World Rebirth is released in cinemas on Wednesday July 2.
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