Scarlett Johansson Reacts to Interview from 27 Years Ago

Nearly three decades later, Scarlett Johansson is looking back on her early Hollywood days with fresh eyes.

The Black Widow star attended the Newport Beach Film Festival on Sunday to take home the Legend & Groundbreaker Award for her directional debut with Eleanor the Great, which was released last month. Starring June Squibb and Erin Kellyman, the film follows 94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein (Squibb), who moves to New York City looking for a fresh start after her best friend dies.

At the film festival, Johansson stunned in a black Prada mini dress and a pair of matching high heels. She accesorized the look with multiple pairs of studs and a diamond tennis bracelet around her wrist. Her blonde hair was down in an blow-out, while a white manicure, black eyeliner and a pink lipstick made up her glam.

On Sunday, she spoke with Entertainment Tonight, where the interviewer showed the now 40-year-old actress her first interview she did with ET, when she was promoting the film The Horse Whisperer in 1998. At the time, she was just 13 years old.

“I’m just a teenager and I do have fights with my parents,” said teenage Johansson in the old interview. “We want our independence, but at the same time, we want a security blanket there too.”

Meanwhile, Johansson is smiling to herself while watching the video, agreeing with the points her teenage self was saying. Now, the actress has two children of her own: a 11-year-old daughter named Rose Dorothy with her ex-husband Romain Dauriac, and a four-year-old son named Cosmo with her husband Colin Jost.

“Looking back on that, I think I’m getting dumber actually?” I think I was smarter then. Johansson joked. “I was certainly more poised. I seemed like I had it more together back then.”

Johansson started her acting career at just eight years old on an off-Broadway play titled Sophistry in 1992. A couple of years later, she made her film debut in the fantasy comedy North and gained early recognition for her roles in Manny & Lo (1996), The Horse Whisperer (1998) and Ghost World (2001).

In 2010, Johansson debuted on the Broadway revival of A View from the Bridge, which won her a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play, then began portraying Black Widow/Natasha Romonoff in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, eventually leading to her solo Marvel movie in July 2021. In addition, Johansson starred in the science fiction films Her and Under the Skin in 2013, then Lucy in 2014.

In 2020, she received two simultaneous Oscar nominations for her roles in Marriage Story and Jojo Rabbit, becoming one of the few actors to achieve this feat.

After the pandemic, Johnassson returned to the screen with Wes Anderson’s comedy Asteroid City in 2023. She then founded her own production company These Pictures, where she produced and starred in Fly Me to the Moon (2024), a romantic comedy set against the backdrop of the Space Race, opposite Channing Tatum. This summer, she starred in Jurassic Park series most recent installment, Jurassic Park Rebirth and reunited with Anderson in the ensemble adventure film The Phoenician Scheme.

“I was curious, as a teenager, and I think the curiousity that I had is something that stayed with me, Johnasson concluded in the interview. “I think that’s an important ingredient to longevity, I think, is curoisity.”

Eleanor the Great is still showing in movie theaters. The film was originally released on Sept. 26 and made its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival back in May.

Related: Scarlett Johansson Reflects on Stressful Start to Directorial Debut

This story was originally reported by Parade on Oct 20, 2025, where it first appeared in the Celebs section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.