During a rare podcast appearance on Bruce Bozzi’s new iHeart series “Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi,” the actress also talks about her career goals: “The perfect job for me would be a corner office on the Disney lot.” Scarlett Johansson is one of the most successful actors of her generation, and she just shared a surprising new goal for her career. The two-time Oscar nominee says, “My dream job is a corner office on the Disney lot.” “Like a small bungalow.” “Yes, I want that.”
In an interview with Bruce Bozzi about his new podcast, Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi, which came out on Monday, Johansson talked about the dream. Bozzi is married to Johansson’s powerful agent, CAA partner, managing director, and co-chairman Bryan Lourd. This means that the two have known each other for a long time. During the conversation, Johansson talked about her rise through the ranks of Hollywood, from child star to Marvel superhero to ambitious producer.
“Rebecca Hall and I would be sitting across from each other in a small café in Barcelona and talking about our problems. Behind Rebecca Hall, there would be 600 people watching, 50 paparazzi, and people talking during the take,” Johansson said of the 2008 movie. “It was terrible. I love my job, and I’m not going to complain about it, but maybe actors are, in a weird way, kind of getting ready for those times when you just have to zone out and suspend your disbelief. It’s something we always do. You have to figure out how to use or lose whatever is going on in your life or in the real world.
“It was the silliest, goofiest scene, and at the end, he had to say something like, ‘Well, I’ve got to go, it’s spotted dick at the hotel tonight,’” Johansson said of the line about the traditional British steamed pudding. “And he couldn’t control himself. It took a few tries, and everyone laughed, laughed, laughed. Then this one take went on for hours. He was so mad at himself that he became hysterical.”
Johansson and Bozzi then talked about how she got through the early parts of her career when people thought she was naive and a bombshell. “I did Lost in Translation and Girl With the Pearl Earring when I was 18 and 19. At that point, I was becoming a woman and learning about my own attractiveness and sexuality,” she says. “In a way, I was being trained to be what you might call a “bombshell” actor. I was the other woman and the object of desire, and all of a sudden I was stuck in this place. I was stuck and couldn’t get out. I met Bryan right around that time.”
It’s also rare to hear actors talk so openly and lovingly about their reps. Perhaps because of Bozzi and their connection, Johansson spent a lot of time talking about Lourd and what he’s like as a rep and a person. “Bryan is so calm, and he really cares about other people. He is so understanding and listens so well,” she said. “He is such a gentleman, and he loves movies, actors, and real work, great work, art, and performance. He loves putting together creative teams and giving people chances to do interesting work. And he just got it.”
Even though she didn’t say it, Johansson went to court with Feige, Marvel, and Disney over the release date of her Black Widow film, which is set for July 2021. With Lourd’s support (both in private and in public), she filed a breach of contract lawsuit against the studio, saying that it hurt the movie’s chances of doing well at the box office so that it could grow its Disney+ streaming service. The case was settled, but the terms of the deal were not made public.
Johansson has kept working with Disney, and the fact that she wants a corner office on the studio lot shows that things are still good. Johansson also told Bozzi about her plans for the future that she “would like to direct” but that “I love producing.” She is listed as a producer on both Project Artemis and Tower of Terror, which are both coming out soon. “I love making music, and I also love making music for other people. I always make jokes about this with Bryan, and he always says, “You’re crazy.”
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