our new app<\/a> and never miss a headline<\/p>\nThe mould-breaking, critically acclaimed 2013 sci-fi film is a complete departure from the big-budget spectacle of The Avengers. Sparse in dialogue and suffocating in its tone, the film centres on Johansson as an unnamed alien driving an old white van through the rain-slicked streets of Glasgow.<\/p>\n
Disguised in a cheap faux-fur coat, red lipstick and a dark wig, her mission is as seductive as it is chilling: entice unsuspecting men into her vehicle, lead them into a dreamlike void, and submerge them into a dark, liquid abyss. Why? The film never bothers to explain, leaving the quiet horror open to interpretation.<\/p>\n
What makes the film so uniquely captivating is its run-and-gun approach to on-location filming. Rather than employing standard film sets, Glazer fitted Johansson\u2019s van with hidden cameras and sent her directly into the real world. <\/p>\n
The megastar literally drove around Scotland, pulling over to flirt and strike up unscripted conversations with actual, unsuspecting passers-by.<\/p>\n
The genuine reactions of real pedestrians \u2013 some rushing to help, others walking past without a second glance \u2013 were captured in real time and woven straight into the movie.<\/p>\n
That relentless authenticity culminates in the film\u2019s most discussed sequence: a quiet, full-frontal nude scene where Johansson\u2019s character clinically inspects her stolen human skin in a mirror. It isn\u2019t gratuitous, erotic or designed for the male gaze.<\/p>\n
Instead, it offers a raw, vulnerable moment of otherworldly exploration that leaves the viewer feeling like an intruder.<\/p>\n
Johansson didn\u2019t go into that scene naively. She considered its artistic merits along with a very real understanding of the consequences that come from shedding her clothes in the digital age. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou look at the nudity and you assume it\u2019s going to be a screenshot for someone,\u201d she explained during a New York press conference.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, Johansson decided exposure was vital to the narrative arc. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou kind of have to weigh the value of the risk you are taking, is this gratuitous? Is this a vanity project, or is this an important part of this character\u2019s journey to self-discovery,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not a provocative person. It\u2019s not like I live to be photographed in the buff or anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Johansson, shedding the glamorous armour of Hollywood to stand completely bare allowed her to reflect on the pressures all women face. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt really made me aware of when I was doing it, all the kinds of judgments and all of these things we place on ourselves, how self-conscious you can be about the way you look, your own vanity,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really challenging, but it was interesting, like, \u2018I really am self-conscious about this,\u2019 or \u2018I\u2019m holding on to this idea I should look like that,\u2019\u201d she added. \u201cWe all have it. I guess as a woman, we have it more, I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under The Skin\u2019s hypnotic imagery, coupled with Johansson\u2019s fearless performance, uses seduction to examine what it truly means to be human, delivering a film that will really get under your skin.<\/p>\n
Under The Skin is now streaming on Tubi<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before Jonathan Glazer\u2019s Under The Skin, Scarlett Johansson had just become an ideal, cinematic fantasy: Black Widow 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