{"id":376482,"date":"2026-01-18T06:23:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T06:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/376482\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T06:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T06:23:08","slug":"the-only-role-scarlett-johansson-was-banned-from-playing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/376482\/","title":{"rendered":"The only role Scarlett Johansson was banned from playing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img width=\"1140\" height=\"855\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/The-nude-scene-Scarlett-Johansson-wasnt-allowed-to-shoot-22OK-Im-going-naked22-Far-Out-Magazine-1140.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-single-feature size-single-feature wp-post-image\" alt=\"he nude scene Scarlett Johansson wasn't allowed to shoot- OK, I'm going naked\" layout=\"fill\"  style=\"object-position: 50% 50%\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" \/><\/p>\n<p>(Credits: Far Out \/ Dreamworks)<\/p>\n<p> Sun 18 January 2026 1:00, UK <\/p>\n<p>If a director were offered the chance to cast the highest-grossing lead actor in cinema history in their movie, then common sense would usually prevail. However, despite <a href=\"https:\/\/faroutmagazine.co.uk\/tags\/scarlett-johansson\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"\">Scarlett Johansson<\/a> desperately craving a part, the director flat-out refused to give it to her.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s not to say that Johansson should be handed everything on a silver platter, simply because her movies have raked in billions upon billions of dollars at the box office, she\u2019s been a certified A-lister for the better part of 20 years, and she\u2019s one of the few actors to earn two Academy Award nominations in the same year.<\/p>\n<p>However, she did audition and was considered one of, if not the front-runner, in industry circles. As should always be the case, though, the mastermind behind the camera had the final say, and regardless of how much she wanted it and how good her screen test was, he simply wasn\u2019t having it.<\/p>\n<p>Johansson was far from the only talented actor who threw their hat into the ring to play Lisbeth Salander in David Fincher\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/faroutmagazine.co.uk\/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-the-death-of-high-art\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"\">The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo remake<\/a>, with the project sparking one of the most hotly-contested casting races in recent memory, with countless big names in the mix at one time or another.<\/p>\n<p>Eva Green, Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Lawrence, Carey Mulligan, Natalie Portman, Kristen Stewart, Evan Rachel Wood, Mia Wasikowska, and Sarah Snook were just some of the names rumoured to be in the running, but Johansson didn\u2019t even make it down to the final four before Rooney Mara was cast.<\/p>\n<p>Snook, Sophie Lowe, and L\u00e9a Seydoux were the other three contenders on the final shortlist, and Fincher even  managed to ignite some controversy when he suggested that the Marvel Cinematic Universe veteran didn\u2019t get the job because she was too hot, saying, \u201cThe thing with Scarlett is, you can\u2019t wait for her to take her clothes off.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mercifully, she clarified that misogyny wasn\u2019t the reason. \u201cThat\u2019s not exactly how it went,\u201d Johansson told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.howardstern.com\/show\/2017\/03\/27\/scarlett-johansson-lists-movie-roles-she-lost-out-and-tells-howard-her-surprising-celebrity-crush\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"\">Howard Stern<\/a>. Instead, she shared that Fincher told her she needed to be \u201ctotally uncaring\u201d of herself to make a suitable Salander, and he didn\u2019t believe that she had it in her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI said, \u2018I will. I can be that person,&#8217;\u201d she added. \u201cAnd he was like, \u2018No, you can\u2019t\u2019. I really, really wanted that felt, because I felt I had something to contribute to it, and I think Fincher just had a different vision for that character, and Rooney Mara is, honestly, so perfect in it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a small positive that Fincher didn\u2019t hire Johansson because he thought the pervs in the audience would be frothing at the mouth to see her get her kit off, but when she insisted that she was more than capable of disappearing into the role, he disagreed and told her that she didn\u2019t stand a chance.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ Dreamworks) Sun 18 January 2026 1:00, UK If a director were offered the chance&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[82360,96,2839,16232,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-376482","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-david-fincher","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-movies","11":"tag-scarlett-johansson","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}