It’s true that Scarlett Johansson now has a story spanning eight films as Black Widow/Natasha Ramanoff, but before joining the MCU, the actress was questioning her entire career.
She revealed a lot in a magazine cover story Variety Recently, she looked back on her time in the MCU, as well as how she almost didn’t get the role of Natasha. Johansson only got the role after Emily Blunt dropped out.
She also revealed that she had lost the lead role in Gravity at that time as well, a role that would earn Sandra Bullock an Academy Award nomination.
She said, “I was turned down for two roles, one being Iron Man 2 and then the other being Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity. I wanted this role so much. It was kind of the straw that broke the camel’s back. I felt really frustrated and hopeless. I started to wonder, ‘Am I Am I in the right job?’ The work I was offered looked very unsatisfactory. I think I was offered every Marilyn Monroe script ever. I said to myself, ‘Is this the end of my creative path?'” “.
Of course things would soon change for Johansson, eventually playing Natasha in Iron Man 2 and kicking off a decade of work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that culminated in 2021’s Black Widow.
But even her independent film wasn’t without turmoil, as Black Widow was shown simultaneously in cinemas and on Disney+ amid the COVID-19 quarantine, and Johansson sued Disney as the decision affected her salary. It accepted a lawsuit settlement with Disney in September 2021.
