For Scarlett Johansson, 'Chef' was sizzling
Donna Freydkin, USA TODAY
11:01 p.m. EDT May 7, 2014
Jon Favreau's latest movie explores characters' tight but brief bonds.
NEW YORK – Last year, Scarlett Johansson wooed Joaquin Phoenix and wowed critics as the vocally effusive Samantha in Her.
On this Tuesday afternoon, she's having a very similar experience, albeit one with significantly less passion.
"It's a repeat of what she did in that film," says Jon Favreau, as he puts Johansson on speaker-phone. She's in London, shooting Avengers: Age of Ultron, and not able to travel to promote their little movie Chef, which won the Tribeca Film Festival audience award. "We actually Skyped our rehearsal. Remember that?"
There's a pause. "I don't remember anything," says Johansson. "I remember Skyping and standing outside some explosion on the Captain America set, with bombs going off, and I remember you and I are talking about those people who come into your life and have this profound effect. You can have these really intimate relationships with people that are noncommittal."
The bond she shares with Favreau's Carl Casper in Chef is tight, but also fleeting. The film was written and directed by Favreau, 47, who plays a mercurial kitchen impresario who gets one hideous review and goes ballistic on the critic – in a clip caught on video and shared instantly, thanks to the magic of social media.
"I love the romantic image of the chef and I love food and I wanted to do something about being a dad and balancing out career and family. It hit me at once. I wrote it in a few weeks," says Favreau. "The story was about a guy who has not grown in many, many years, and you can see why. This is a guy who was stuck not growing in his craft, his life, his relationships. But on the surface, he seems to be living the dream."
It's a return to intimate films, like the seminal 1996 bromance Swingers that put Favreau – and the term "you're so money" – on the map and enabled him to direct the first two Iron Man blockbusters. And he cast friends, including Iron Man 2's Natasha Romanoff, in his cinematic concoction. Johansson, 29, plays his friend, his co-worker, and his sanity sounding-board when everything falls apart around him.
"I felt very familiar with that kind of relationship, as I get older and experience different things, understanding the different value in a relationship that isn't necessarily the person you will end up with and have your family with. Those relationships are rarely explored on film. They are so profound and real," says Johansson.
In reality, Johansson is engaged to French journalist Romain Dauriac and reportedly pregnant with their first child, a report she deftly and quickly declines to address in this interview. Favreau is married with three kids.
"At my age now, when I was doing Swingers, it was about meeting the girl and trying to make a name in your career. This one is about to maintaining things and making choices that allow you to reconnect with things that matter to you," says Favreau.
So, escape the golden handcuffs of a sweet but complacent life, so to speak?
"Golden cuffs is coincidentally the name of the next Marvel character," retorts Johansson.
So if Favreau reconnected with his roots by making a film from scratch, how does Johansson stay invigorated?
"Hmmm. That sounds like a therapy question. Do I have to pay you after this interview?" says Johansson. "I think you have to be. I think that, not initially of course. I'm filled with crippling doubt like any actor. But if you don't have confidence in the choices you're making, you have to have conviction. It's the most valuable thing I took away from working on stage. You have to drive it like you own it and everyone will go with you."
Donna Freydkin, USA TODAY
11:01 p.m. EDT May 7, 2014
Jon Favreau's latest movie explores characters' tight but brief bonds.
NEW YORK – Last year, Scarlett Johansson wooed Joaquin Phoenix and wowed critics as the vocally effusive Samantha in Her.
On this Tuesday afternoon, she's having a very similar experience, albeit one with significantly less passion.
"It's a repeat of what she did in that film," says Jon Favreau, as he puts Johansson on speaker-phone. She's in London, shooting Avengers: Age of Ultron, and not able to travel to promote their little movie Chef, which won the Tribeca Film Festival audience award. "We actually Skyped our rehearsal. Remember that?"
There's a pause. "I don't remember anything," says Johansson. "I remember Skyping and standing outside some explosion on the Captain America set, with bombs going off, and I remember you and I are talking about those people who come into your life and have this profound effect. You can have these really intimate relationships with people that are noncommittal."
The bond she shares with Favreau's Carl Casper in Chef is tight, but also fleeting. The film was written and directed by Favreau, 47, who plays a mercurial kitchen impresario who gets one hideous review and goes ballistic on the critic – in a clip caught on video and shared instantly, thanks to the magic of social media.
"I love the romantic image of the chef and I love food and I wanted to do something about being a dad and balancing out career and family. It hit me at once. I wrote it in a few weeks," says Favreau. "The story was about a guy who has not grown in many, many years, and you can see why. This is a guy who was stuck not growing in his craft, his life, his relationships. But on the surface, he seems to be living the dream."
It's a return to intimate films, like the seminal 1996 bromance Swingers that put Favreau – and the term "you're so money" – on the map and enabled him to direct the first two Iron Man blockbusters. And he cast friends, including Iron Man 2's Natasha Romanoff, in his cinematic concoction. Johansson, 29, plays his friend, his co-worker, and his sanity sounding-board when everything falls apart around him.
"I felt very familiar with that kind of relationship, as I get older and experience different things, understanding the different value in a relationship that isn't necessarily the person you will end up with and have your family with. Those relationships are rarely explored on film. They are so profound and real," says Johansson.
In reality, Johansson is engaged to French journalist Romain Dauriac and reportedly pregnant with their first child, a report she deftly and quickly declines to address in this interview. Favreau is married with three kids.
"At my age now, when I was doing Swingers, it was about meeting the girl and trying to make a name in your career. This one is about to maintaining things and making choices that allow you to reconnect with things that matter to you," says Favreau.
So, escape the golden handcuffs of a sweet but complacent life, so to speak?
"Golden cuffs is coincidentally the name of the next Marvel character," retorts Johansson.
So if Favreau reconnected with his roots by making a film from scratch, how does Johansson stay invigorated?
"Hmmm. That sounds like a therapy question. Do I have to pay you after this interview?" says Johansson. "I think you have to be. I think that, not initially of course. I'm filled with crippling doubt like any actor. But if you don't have confidence in the choices you're making, you have to have conviction. It's the most valuable thing I took away from working on stage. You have to drive it like you own it and everyone will go with you."
