Scarlett Johansson recalls her disastrous audition for Gravity

Last Updated on June 22, 2023

Scarlett Johansson can be seen in the recent Wes Anderson comedy Asteroid City, which deals with aliens from outer space. Johansson once played an alien herself in the sci-fi drama Under the Skin. And recently, the Black Widow actress has revealed that she tried out for another space-themed movie that she really wanted — 2013’s Gravity from the acclaimed director Alfonso Cuarón. While promoting Asteroid City, Johansson spoke with Variety about two notable roles that she had been turned down for, although one of those stories had a happy twist ending.

Johansson recalled her experience while auditioning for Gravity, “I did a screen test for the movie Gravity, that Sandra Bullock is fantastic in, but I had to be in like the full, whole space suit thing, and sort of pretend I was kind of like floating in space. Even though I was just sitting in a chair with a helmet on.” In the interview, the Avengers star shared that being passed over for the role was a devastating loss for her, “I had wanted that role so much. It was sort of the straw that broke the camel’s back. I felt really frustrated and hopeless. Like, ‘Am I doing the right job?’ The work I was being offered felt deeply unfulfilling. I think I was offered every Marilyn Monroe script ever. I was like, ‘Is this the end of the road creatively?’”

Surprisingly, there was another loss her career almost suffered that some might find quite unexpected to learn. “I got turned down for two roles — the first was Iron Man 2 and then the other one was Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity.” Of course, several movies and billions of dollars in box office gross later, we know how that worked out for her. When Johansson tried out for Iron Man 2, which would introduce her Marvel Cinematic Universe character, Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow, the part originally went to actress Emily Blunt. Unfortunately for Blunt, scheduling conflicts had prevented her from filming Iron Man 2 and Johansson would be brought in.

That role that fate would bring her into became a decade-long journey as she appeared in many films of the MCU and eventually would receive a solo movie with 2021’s Black Widow. Although the character has concluded her journey and Johansson stated that her time as Natasha was done, it had been revealed by Kevin Feige that he is still working with Scarlett as a producer for a secret project at Marvel Studios that will not be affiliated with her Black Widow character.