Exclusive: Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh on David Harbour's Jokes, Fight Scenes and ‘Black Widow’ Pose
Coming out this week is Marvel Studios’ long-awaited “Black Widow,” showcasing Natasha Romanoff’s struggle to face her past and deal with unfinished business. Directed by Cate Shortland (Lore) from a script written by Jac Schaeffer (The Hustle). the action-packed spy thriller will launch simultaneously in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access* in most Disney+ markets on July 9, 2021.
Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger. With the character having met her demise in Avengers: Endgame, the plot for the film is set between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War.
Scarlett Johansson reprises her role as Natasha/Black Widow, the film also features a star-studded ensemble cast including Golden Globe nominee David Harbour (Stranger Things, Hellboy) as Alexei aka The Red Guardian, Florence Pugh (Fighting with My Family, Midsommar) as Yelena Belova, Academy Award-winning actress Rachel Weisz (The Favourite, My Cousin Rachel) as Melina, Ray Winstone (The Departed) as Dreykov, head of The Red Rom, and O-T Fagbenle (The Handmaid’s Tale) as Mason.
BlackFilmandTV.com’s Wilson Morales spoke with Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh on David Harbour's jokes, fight scenes and that Black Widow’ pose that Johansson does in her previous Marvel films.
Which one did you find challenging, not laughing through David's scripted jokes, going through as many takes through your fight scenes, or watching Florence try to perfect your Black Widow pose?
Scarlett Johansson: I would say David is really just outrageous. And he just, I mean, his banter, the things he found, and in moments that are supposed to be so tender, and so, you know, fraught with all this emotion and then he's just a big ham. He's such a ham. And we were just on set, the characters are supposed to be so straightforward and so annoyed and we were just cracking up all the time. Like, what are you doing? He’s so great. So probably that was the hardest, trying to keep a straight face through his comedic banter.
What about your fight scenes?
Florence Pugh: If I could keep face during them? Although there are there are a couple of those I'm very happy have been caught on the behind the scenes where we'll be in the middle of something super, super aggressive and then you'll just see both Scarlett and I either like look at each other, or she'll start tickling me. That was quite funny because we'd be in like this horrible sister fight where I was just about to smash a plate on her head and then like they'd say, ‘cut’ and we'd be in each other's armpits or whatever. So that was always that was always a pleasure. I did love doing her pose because even when we were doing the scenes, she would have her actual smoky Scarlett face on as I'd be doing my ridiculous hair thing, and that actually would make her chuckle. That was quite sweet to sweet to see. So yeah. And also David because he's hilarious.
You guys have a great chemistry. Hopefully we can see more because they can always do more stories before Scarlett eventually goes on to the other Marvel films that we saw her in. Did you guys know each other before this? Or did you guys take time to know each other before you started working together?
Florence Pugh: This is our first time.
Scarlett Johansson: Yeah, we had never met before. We met in rehearsals. It was we got really lucky. We liked each other and really right away we were thrown into doing this fight sequence. That was the first work that we did together. And it was this very weird, physical, icebreaker because you're really in each other's like intimate space and it's super passionate and the fight is really emotional for both of them. Everything after that was like a breeze. It was like such an intense period of of work between us. We just got lucky.