Call her Lucy, Janet Leigh, Mary Boleyn, Barbara Sugarman, Silken Floss, or Nola Rice; just don’t call her ScarJo. Scarlett Johansson has been acting since 1994, when she made her debut in Rob Reiner’s North at ten years old, but in the 2010s she has made herself into something of an institution. Smart career choices have given her status as something of a roleplayer, an actress capable of wading into the waters of FX-driven blockbusters as well as independent arthouse and genre works. She’s versatile enough that she can fit into all manner of niches without letting her celebrity get in the way. Need proof? To celebrate the release of Luc Besson’s Lucy on Blu-ray, ere are five of the very best performances of her career, each as different as the last.
5.) Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, The Avengers
Audiences were first introduced to this international assassin in Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 2, but that film gave Johansson little to do, and besides, her personality makes her a perfect fit for Joss Whedon’s cast-emphatic, banter-driven style. Johansson holds her own against big CGI baddies and trades quips in a troupe dominated by even bigger celebrity personalities like Robert Downey Jr.; as the film comes around to briefly explore Romanoff’s past sins, she leaves a surprisingly human mark on the character, too.
4) Charlotte, Lost in Translation
Speaking of stepping out from the shadow of towering screen performers: Bill Murray may technically be the star of Sofia Coppola’s second film, but Johansson feels like an absolute revelation. High praise for a simple performance? Maybe, but simplicity is exactly what Charlotte’s story calls for, or perhaps naive innocence. She’s a young woman adrift in a big, lonely world, and the wide-eyed serenity Johansson imparts the character with lends her deep-rooted empathy.
3) Griet, Girl with a Pearl Earring
Cherry picking two performances from within roughly the same release year might feel like cheating. But if Lost in Translation suggests an actress exploring her gifts as a performer, then Girl with a Pearl Earring shows her in full command of all of them. Acting on a minimum of dialogue isn’t easy, and yet Johansson, with the slimmest of gaps between the two films, manages to turn silence into a range of expressions with impressive, nuanced depth.
2) The Woman, Under the Skin
In a way, Girl with a Pearl Earring feels like a blueprint of sorts for Johansson’s work in 2014’s outstanding Under the Skin; a dearth of spoken lines forces her to emote primarily through facial ticks, a task made even harder by the character’s impassive nature. “The Woman” is a blank slate (at least until she corners helpless prey unawares and employs her considerable feminine charms), but Johansson renders the character’s unflinching stoicism into cool pathos.
1) Samantha, Her
Giving voice to a cartoon character is one thing. Doing the same for an iPhone is another entirely. Consigned to use of her vocal chords as the tool of her craft, Johansson breathes indelible human life into an artificial intelligence in Her; Samantha is just as dynamic as her flesh and blood foil, Theodore, perhaps even more so as she evolves and grows throughout the course of the film’s running time. Johansson is at turns bubbly and joyful, sensual and loving, heartbroken and wounded, but at all times she’s undeniably alive.
