MOVIE NEWS – The entertainment press thrives on snappy mashups and shortcuts, from Brangelina to Bennifer, shaving off a few syllables in the name of convenience. But while those nicknames may sound playful on paper, the celebrities behind them do not always feel the same way. In Scarlett Johansson’s case, dropping the long-running “ScarJo” label in conversation is a quick way to make it clear you do not really know her.

Johansson is currently lining up a series of heavy-hitting roles: she is expected to continue out-running dinosaurs in a new Jurassic World movie, to lead Mike Flanagan’s new take on The Exorcist, and to play a still-secret character in The Batman Part II. While appearing on The Today Show’s “Today with Jenna & Friends,” host Jenna Bush Hager casually referred to her by the media nickname—prompting an immediate and very direct response from the actress.

“I hate that name. It’s nothing anybody ever called me when I was growing up. Nobody in my life calls me that. So if somebody calls me that, I immediately am like, ‘You don’t know me.’”

Johansson joked that Jennifer Lopez might share some of the blame, recalling that “ScarJo” started cropping up around the same time JLO embraced her own shortened moniker. But while Lopez happily turned her initials into a personal brand, Johansson has never signed off on her press-created nickname. As far as she is concerned, if you are going to talk to her—or about her—you can take the extra second to say her full name.

Scarlett Johansson’s career shows no sign of slowing down

Most viewers came to know Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but her rise in Hollywood began long before she slipped into Natasha Romanoff’s leather outfit. After leaving the MCU behind, she continued to build an impressive résumé, teaming up with Wes Anderson on Asteroid City and The Phoenician Scheme, and with Taika Waititi on Jojo Rabbit.

More recently, she joined the Transformers franchise, lending her voice alongside former MCU co-star Chris Hemsworth in the animated film Transformers One, and helped breathe new life into the Jurassic World series this past summer. The next few years look just as busy: she has been announced as part of the upcoming reboot of The Exorcist, which is aiming to move past the disappointment of David Gordon Green’s The Exorcist: Believer. Soon after, it was confirmed that she will also take on a mystery role in Matt Reeves’ The Batman Part II. While no additional details have been revealed about either part, it certainly appears that Johansson is stepping away from some of her more art-house-leaning projects to indulge in large-scale blockbusters for a while.

Next up, she is expected to appear alongside Miles Teller and Adam Driver in James Gray’s Paper Tiger, a film about two brothers whose pursuit of the American Dream draws them into the dangerous world of the Russian Mafia. The movie is currently in post-production and does not yet have a release date.

Source: MovieWeb