<\/p>\n
TORONTO \u2014 Scarlett Johansson says she\u2019s not one to be nervous when films she stars in get released into the world. But debuting a deeply personal film as a first-time director is a whole other matter.<\/p>\n
Flanked by her cast from \u201cEleanor the Great,\u201d Johansson told a recent press conference that she felt some anxiety in the lead-up to this Friday\u2019s theatrical release, in large part because the material hits so close to home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis experience is more nerve-racking, I think, because I feel like I’m sharing something that I have been so close to; it\u2019s suddenly exposed,\u201d Johansson said at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust more of a vulnerable feeling, I guess, but it’s exciting. I’m so happy that I get to be here with the cast, and for everybody to see all of their work is what I’m most excited about.”<\/p>\n
The star behind blockbusters including \u201cJurassic World: Rebirth\u201d and several entries in the Marvel franchise said she connected deeply with the subject matter of \u201cEleanor,\u201d centred on a 94-year-old in Florida who spirals in grief after the death of her lifelong friend and roommate Bessie, played by Rita Zohar.<\/p>\n
June Squibb stars as the bewildered Eleanor, who struggles to carve out a new life with her adult daughter and grandson in New York until she stumbles into a meeting for Holocaust survivors and shares Bessie\u2019s story as her own.<\/p>\n
Johansson said she\u2019s always felt disconnected from her own Jewish heritage \u2013 traced through her mother\u2019s side \u2013 because so many relatives died in the Holocaust and any stories that survived faded when her great-grandparents immigrated to start a \u201cnew American experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI always felt like there was something missing because I didn’t have a relationship with my extended family,\u201d said Johansson.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese disappearing stories are very much part of my DNA, because it’s a part of my own story, too. That aspect of the script really resonated with me.”<\/p>\n
When the script came her way, Johansson recalled thinking: \u201c’I have to make this.’\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich doesn’t happen often,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you can only direct something that feels personal. Even when it’s ‘Jurassic Park,’ really. Otherwise it’s too hard, it’s too hard to do it. It gets too miserable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Squibb said she embraced the chance to spark discussion about the Holocaust through the film, which features actual Holocaust survivors as members of Eleanor\u2019s support group \u2013 not to mention Zohar, who Johansson noted is also a survivor.<\/p>\n
But Squibb said she also saw great love in Eleanor, despite her questionable choices.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy God, she loves this woman so much that she will not let her death be the end of this, because it was too important,\u201d Squibb said.<\/p>\n
Squibb praised Johansson\u2019s leadership on set, as did co-stars Erin Kellyman, who plays a journalism student who befriends Eleanor, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, who plays Nina\u2019s father and a reporter who latches onto Eleanor\u2019s story.<\/p>\n
“She’s very decisive, which I love,\u201d Squibb said of working with Johansson.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s nothing worse than a director who doesn’t answer you or is like, ‘Oh, I’m not sure about that.’ But this one really knows immediately how she feels about things. And that’s just great. And also, she listens.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I felt that she was really with me in terms of how I work, that she knew immediately what I was doing. So that made that easier.”<\/p>\n
The 95-year-old Squibb said she\u2019s also revelling in her second lead role in as many years \u2013 after last year\u2019s \u201cThelma.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI did some great things and some bad things,\u201d she said of a lengthy acting career that largely focused on the stage until her first film role at age 61.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut this is different. It is different, you have a certain responsibility but you also get a lot of the kudos that you didn’t get when you were supporting. So I mean, it all evens out. But I’m having a great time.”<\/p>\n
Squibb said she\u2019s doing a play next and is talking about another possible film role with the producers of 2013’s \u201cNebraska,\u201d which brought her an Oscar nomination for supporting actress. She sees no retirement in her future.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs long as they can take me as I am, I just feel I’ll keep doing it,\u201d said Squibb, explaining later that she needs a cane these days.<\/p>\n
“If I can sit down and not walk around too much, I could do a scene,” said Squibb.<\/p>\n
Johansson said “Eleanor” is largely about love and loss, and hopes the audience can find empathy and compassion for people struggling like her problematic protagonist.<\/p>\n
\u201cA theme throughout this film that’s very important to me is forgiveness and we certainly could use more of it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEleanor is in such a state of grief and loneliness and is desperately trying to connect and to be seen and also feels this urgency to honour her friend’s legacy.<\/p>\n
“And it’s complicated. Her appropriation of this story is complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2025.<\/p>\n
Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source ca.news.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" TORONTO \u2014 Scarlett Johansson says she\u2019s not one to be nervous when films she stars in get released into the world. But debuting a deeply personal film as a first-time director is a whole other matter. Flanked by her cast from \u201cEleanor the Great,\u201d Johansson told a recent press conference that she felt some anxiety […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2044080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[378656,367245,339789,378657,305526,318702],"class_list":["post-2044079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-eleanors-story","tag-holocaust-survivors","tag-june-squibb","tag-rita-zohar","tag-scarlett-johansson","tag-toronto-international-film-festival"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Scarlett-Johansson-says-directorial-debut-about-disappearing-Holocaust-stories-is.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2044079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2044079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2044079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2044080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2044079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2044079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2044079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}