Scarlett Johansson character, Black Widow, is no joke! She is one tough cookie, both emotionally and physically, and I have loved seeing her character blossom in each one of the Marvel films. In her most recent film, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Black Widow doesn’t disappoint and makes you like her character even more.
Black Widow is a forced to be reckoned with, which is why seeing the very classy Scarlett Johansson walk in the room for our interview amazed me. I say that because while at that moment the 2 seem very different, the way Scarlett talks about her character proves that they are one in the same. Here’s what she had to say…
What are you thoughts about your character, Black Widow?
…She uses her brain, wit and feminine wiles to get the job done. She’s a very playful character and also a character that has a really compelling story because she has a kind of a gray moral code. It’s not black and white.
Have you seen your character evolve throughout the films?
Yeah…it’s been interesting because when I went in to do Avengers, after having done Iron Man 2 you kind of don’t know a lot about the character, you sort of see her in widow mode…I got the opportunity to explore more of her back story in Avengers and it really started to kind of carve out what my kind of version of Natasha, what my reality could be.
…It’s one of the oldest female superheroes. Probably the oldest one, and she’s got this vast library of source material and has had many incarnations and many different people have their hand in her stories…She’s made all kinds of connections and love interests and failures, and she’s been good and bad in everything. So we wanted to make sure that the story felt contemporary, obviously.
It’s been great to be able to reveal little pieces of that. I think it’s kind of like these little Easter eggs for the fans…you kind of discover her as I discover her as well. And it’s fun to do that.
Is Black Widow a Romantic at heart?
…in this film we really get to see a lot more of Natasha. I like to think that Natasha has a romantic side.
She’s been really damaged. I think that in the past she probably learned to not care too much about people because they could be easily taken away from her and used against her. She probably didn’t want to hurt the people that she loved the most. So she never needs them or never invested too much in them knowing that they would probably put them in danger…I think she sees someone who could have his life enriched by sharing it with somebody (Referring to Captain America).
Tell us about the Black Widow costume
The Widow costume is probably the most comfortable of the superhero suits because it doesn’t require a built-in air conditioning unit, like Hemsworth does. I don’t have under armor or a huge leather cape, headdress, all that stuff. You know, it’s pretty straight forward. It’s kinda like a wet suit actually…I’m always amazed when it goes on and zips up. I’m like, wow. It’s on.
What’s it like to have the Black Widow Costume on?
…It’s totally empowering because once you get the belt, the gloves, the bracelets, your guns and the boots on, it looks great. I think when I have my legs wrapped around some giant stunt guy’s head or whatever, and feeling totally ridiculous hanging on for dear life, it sells it.
The costume totally sells things that would otherwise look absolutely absurd. It adds kind of a superhero thing. It changes the way you stand. It changes your posture. You’re more aware of your body…I think when you walk on the set everybody’s like, yeah, it’s the Widow, you know.
I’ve grown to love it, you know. First I was terrified of it and now I embrace it because it embraces me, actually…I’m proud to wear it. It’s fun.
Tell us about the stunts in the movie
Well first of all, my stunt girlfriend [LAUGHTER] is this wonderful, wonderful stunt woman by the name of Heidi Moneymaker – that’s her real name. And, she’s awesome. This is our third movie and she’s played the widow every time along with me. So we have really worked together from the beginning to develop this fighting style that you see. We want to keep the consistency of it. It’s such a fun, playful kind of fighting style…Heidi does ridiculous things with her body that I could never do. Even if it was my job. I just basically found myself trying to emulate whatever she does.
And, hopefully they can use as much of my face as possible. I like to do it, too. I wanna be as, involved as I can. And the stunt guys let me do it ‘cause they’re nuts. So. [LAUGHTER] There’s a big insurance policy on the film.
Want to read more about what the cast of Captain America had to say, check out my interviews with Chris Evans, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan and Kevin Feige.
Disclosure: I went on this trip as part of a Disney press trip. All of my travel, lodging and meal expenses were covered by them. No other compensation was received. However, all opinions/thoughts are 100% my own
How interesting about Scarlett playing this role in the Avengers. I have seen a clip of the movie and some of the background scenes and it is very physical work to do. I wondered if she did a lot of her own stunts. She is very good in this movie. It would be nice if her character and Captain America became involved in a romantic relationship.