Award-winning actors Scarlett Johansson and June Squibb are pushing boundaries in their new film, “Eleanor the Great.”
Johansson steps behind the camera to direct the movie.
“She did beautifully,” said Squibb about Johansson’s first time directing. “She’s such a leader and she worked from the standpoint of the knowledge she had as an actor, which was great for me. It was just a wonderful experience. Everything was very easy. “
Squibb stars as 94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein. After the loss of her best friend, she moves to New York City to reconnect with family. She ultimately wanders into a Holocaust survivors support group and finds herself in the middle of a lie with serious consequences.
“The hope is that at the end of the film that the audience has compassion and empathy … for Eleanor, what she’s going through and understands why she does what she does. I mean, that’s the — if I did my job right, that’s the goal,” Johansson said.
Squibb said while reading the script, she knew by the second page that she was meant to play Eleanor.
“I just felt this was a woman that I understood, and that I thought she was so human. I mean, all these different things about her and you don’t get that very much, you know, when you’re working the scripts either stage or film,” she said.
As for playing a leading role at the age of 95, Squibb said she thought, “Why not? Why shouldn’t I do it?”
For Johansson, the movie helped her accomplish her childhood dream, saying, “it all came at the right time.”
She reflected on wanting to direct a film since she was only 12 years old.
“I think I thought that I would act until I was an adult, and then I would direct, and then … life had other plans for me. I think I got to be in my early 20s, and I was curious about getting better at that job, and so I didn’t — I think it all happened at the right time. I don’t think I could have directed this when I was 25,” she said.
“Eleanor the Great” opens in theaters on Friday, Sept. 26.
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