Can you believe we haven’t done a Woman Crush Wednesday on Scarlett Johansson yet? Me either! I decided to remedy this oversight immediately. So, here we go!
The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001)
A Coen Brothers movie, set at some point in the mid-20th century in Santa Rosa, California, of all places. I have very vague memories of having watched this movie when it came out, but I can’t tell you a thing about it.
An American Rhapsody (2001)
The film begins in 1950 and tells the story of a Hungarian family fleeing to America in hopes of a better life, but forced to leave their infant daughter behind. ScarJo plays the daughter who, as a teenager, has to grapple with the drastic difference between the life she knew in Hungary and the future before her in America.
Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)
Visually stunning, but also somehow kind of a snooze-fest. ScarJo isn’t given a lot of material to work with, but she is a dead-ringer for Vermeer’s muse.
A Good Woman (2004)
I’m a little surprised this hasn’t been on our radar, because the costumes look great. The costumes were by John Bloomfield, who did both The Mummy (1999), and The Mummy Returns (2001), two other films we really need to get around to revisiting in soon.
The Black Dahlia (2006)
Another one where I’m just, like, how did I miss this? With costumes by Frock Flicks Fave Jenny Beavan, and seriously goal worthy makeup and hair, I really need to short list this on my watch list.
The Prestige (2006)
This film had the same costumer as perennial low hanging fruit on the costume snark tree, The Tudors, which just goes to show you how much a good budget and a really strong vision counts for when it comes to making a good costume flick.
The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)
The Other Boleyn Girl was a total snoozefest, and the costumes were basically what caused us to coin the term “what the frock?” ScarJo literally plays the other Boleyn sister, Mary, who is overshadowed by her ambitious younger sibling, Anne for the affections of Henry VIII.
Hitchcock (2012)
This one looks like a nice diversion. ScarJo plays actress Janet Leigh, in the film about the making of Hitchcock’s iconic film, Psycho.
Hail, Caesar! (2016)
ScarJo plays the foul-mouthed mermaid DeeAnna Moran (ever so loosely based on Esther Williams), in this Coen Brothers tribute to the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Jojo Rabbit (2019)
One of my favorite flicks of the last few years. ScarJo plays Rosie, the mother of the eponymous Jojo, and wearer of amazing sweaters. Costumes by Mayes C. Rubeo.
That’s it for now when it comes to ScarJo’s historical films, but she’s rumored to be appearing in an upcoming remake of Little Shop of Horrors as Audrey, which you can count on us covering.
What’s your favorite Scarlett Johansson historical role? Share it with us in the comments!
Finally! The prestige has lovely costumes, actually. Scarlett Johansson’s character has this lovely lavender striped natural form outfit in her last scene in the film.
Other Boleyn Girl. I will repeat what I had commented before, that Ms Johansson does NOT like to be referred to as “Scarjo.” She says she finds it “lazy and disrespectful.”
Yes, quite right!
I don’t recommend A Good Woman. Helen Hunt is very miscast and in her anachronistic flat American delivery can’t cope with Wilde’s witty lines. Her acting was rather poor as well, surprisingly – she’s a good actress usually! The whole production was listless. Costumes were good…
Hail Caesar is great and she’s wonderful in it, but the whole cast is amazing.
The Other Boleyn Girl makes the usual Gregorian hash of history.
I have no memory of her being in “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” so maybe time to revisit. And as snoozefest-y as it was, she was stunning in “The Girl with the Pearl Earring.”
So many to hunt down and watch!
I’ve tried a couple of times to make it through Hail, Caesar! … to no avail. I think I’ve seen the rest of these though, GWAPE the most often. I tried to like the Prestige and just… couldn’t.
Oh yes a Good Woman is pretty nice it’s based in Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan except it changes the setting to the 1920’s/30’s i think it was influenced by the 1935 german version overall is pretty great as something that sticks to the heart of Wilde’s masterpiece should be as for Black Dahlia she’s pretty great as well as Featuring my favorite performance by Mia Kishner since Anna Karenina
Hitchcock is actually surprisingly great. Not only does it have have ScarJo, but stars an incandescent Helen Mirren who gives a weapons grade performance as Alma Reville, Hitchcock’s wife and unsung collaborator and cinematic genius in her own right, and in one great seat, wears an amazing red suit.
Also, Toni Collette is Hitchcock’s brisk assistant who has a droolworthy professional wardrobe.
Ooh, I had wanted to see Hitchcock. I’ll have to keep an eye out for it.
Speaking of The Other Boleyn girl, could you do a WCW on Natalie Portman? Because she’s also starred in some frock flicks.
(Could you also review the upcoming Starz drama, Becoming Elizabeth?)
The Other Boleyn Girl veered between being outright bad and craptastic. I liked The Prestige when I saw it, but I forgot the that Scarlett Johansson starred in it. I have very, very vague memories of An American Rhapsody. Overall, I think my favorite performance of hers isn’t in a FrockFlick but in Ghost World way back in 2001.
She has such a perfect face for 1930s-50s glam era (she is lovely in general but that era seems to make her shine in terms of style/look). I really enjoyed Hail! Caesar and Jojo Rabbit was incredible–she has a much larger role in the latter, and the stories are rather different, but she does both well.