While rejection is par for the course for actors, Scarlett Johansson has admitted that she almost considered quitting the industry after losing out on a number of coveted roles.
Back in 2011, the two-time Oscar-nominated Lost In Translation star found herself beyond frustrated after being passed over for roles in favour of Emily Blunt and Sandra Bullock in Iron Man 2 and Gravity respectively.
Opening up to US publication Variety, she explained: “The first was Iron Man 2 and then the other one was Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity,” she said. “I had wanted that role so much. It was sort of the straw that broke the camel’s back. I felt really frustrated and hopeless. Like, ‘Am I doing the right job?’
“The work I was being offered felt deeply unfulfilling. I think I was offered every Marilyn Monroe script ever. I was like, ‘Is this the end of the road creatively?’”
As luck would have it, Blunt was forced to drop out of the Marvel movie and Johansson was then given the gig as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, cementing her status in the MCU for the next 10 years.
From then on, Johansson’s fortunes seemed to have changed for the better as she then went on to give two critically acclaimed turns on Broadway in A View from the Bridge, as well as in Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin and Spike Jonze’s Her.
