Scarlett Johansson: Scarlett Woman

The arresting soulfulness and singular beauty of Scarlett Johansson in Lost in Translation and Girl With A Pearl Earring (she earned Golden Globe nominations for both) have transformed her into one of Hollywood's most sought-after talents. With a soaring movie career, a brand-new car, house and 'do and even a potential new boyfriend, the outspoken 19-year-old reflects on her breakout year's projects and what's still to come.

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WHO COULD BLAME Scarlett Johansson if she decided to suddenly belt out the old American Songbook standard that goes, "I've got the world on a string/Sitting on a rainbow/Got the string around my finger"? That's exactly what she does this early weekend morning, looking sensationally young, pretty, petite and smartly groomed as she settles into the prime table of the dining room at the Regent Beverly Wilshire hotel and orders a breakfast fit for a ravenous halfback. Johansson and I have met before, several months ago, and knowing we're both music fanatics, she immediately asks what I listened to on the drive over (Andrew Bird's "Bowl of Fire," if you care), then tells me, "I listened to a 'Las Vegas Legends' CD, which is really great because it has Bobby Darin, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland. So, I was driving here singing with Sinatra, 'I've Got the World on a String,' which was fabulous. I mean, I'm in my new car, which I love, heading for an interview, a photo shoot--it couldn't have been more perfect." Right she is.

After all, Johansson, who since her 1994 movie debut in North right up through the irrepressible Ghost World in 2001 and last year's double whammy of Lost in Translation and Girl with a Pearl Earring, has been earning attention for her distinctive acting, solemn beauty and husky voice. She has become a very hot commodity. In the upcoming months, she will be seen in The Perfect Score, a comedy about seven high school students trying to break into the Princeton Testing Center, and after that, A Love Song for Bobby Long, in which she costars with John Travolta and plays a feisty young woman returning to New Orleans to attend her estranged mother's funeral. Not long after comes A Good Woman, inspired by Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan, in which she trades zingy bon mots with such Oscar types as Helen Hunt and Tom Wilkinson. Right now, she's about to begin shooting the comedic drama Synergy with Dennis Quaid and Topher Grace, for American Pie's Paul and Chris Weitz. And then...well, you get the idea. The beauty of it is that Johansson, unlike so many other Hollywood girls in her age bracket (just 19), has vaulted to her lofty new status without the frantic press push-and-shove. It couldn't happen to a smarter, funnier, more talented and sexy girl.

STEPHEN REBELLO: You're looking much blonder than the last time we saw each other.

SCARLETT JOHANSSON: Do you like it? Thank you. I'm a dirty blonde anyway, but for the film I worked on this past summer, I was a bottle blonde--very yellow--then I decided to go blonder for the movie I'm doing in Italy with Helen Hunt, A Good Woman. So now I'm a true blonde, and I wanted it tinted like my dad's color. I said, "Dad, I need a little clipping of your hair," but at first he wouldn't let me take it, like he was afraid I'd cut a chunk out or something. I thought I might have to cut it while he was sleeping, which is what I do when I perform voodoo spells. [Laughs]. My dad finally gave in but he would hardly let me take any and he's got plenty of hair.

Q: Besides blonder, you're also even more famous than the last time we chatted, and that was just after Lost in Translation had opened and began making such a noise.

A: Lost in Translation totally changed everything. I've been making movies for more than half my life, and it's "happened" for me in funny increments--first with Manny & Lo, then with The Horse Whisperer, then Ghost World. To do a movie that had such an incredible sort of sensational release is enabling me to get more great movies made--things I've been trying to get made for a while that, hopefully, are going to be great movies people will enjoy. I don't plan on selling out. I mean, it's nice to get a dinner reservation ahead of other people, but when it comes down to it, the most important thing to me is the actual work.

Q: How are you adjusting to being more recognizable to fans?

A: I don't think about those things. It doesn't really register with me. I just feel the same as I've always felt. I'm very low key. I still eat a burger at a counter with ketchup dripping down my face.

Q: How are you handling all this revved-up awards attention for both Lost in Translation and Girl with a Pearl Earring?

A: I've done a lot of pre-Oscar stuff, which is draining but it's for a good cause--so my publicist says. [Laughs] When it comes to the awards and that kind of talk, I try to keep my distance from that whole thing, too. Otherwise, you could be sitting there at 5 a.m. when they announce the nominations going, "Oh, why wasn't I nominated?" In my mind, the chances of being nominated at all seemed very unusual. But it's just nice that people think that a performance is worthy of some recognition, especially when it's not just a marketing tool. Neither of these are big movies where you might expect it. We thought people might go and see Lost in Translation, but when we made it, it was just a small, crazy, weird experience. Who knew? Girl with a Pearl Earring had more of a built-in audience of people who liked the book or appreciate Vermeer or like period movies or who watch The View. [Laughs] I wanted Girl with a Pearl Earring to do really well because I really think it's good. Everybody worked so hard on it. We just feel it deserves to be seen.

Q: I've gotten a lot of mirth out of Oscar acceptance speeches, especially in the past few years. Are you with me on this?

A: They can be so goofy, like the ones where they say, "I'd like to thank our Lord Jesus up above!" I'm like, "For the love of God, keep your mouth shut. That's why the world is so fucked up, because God is focusing solely on your career." And how about being "blessed"? Like you're an angel from on high?

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