Scarlett Johansson talks ‘Asteroid City’ and new skincare line

I thought we agreed we weren't going to be lawyers. I want, I'm trying to say this as undramatically as possible, I want an entirely different kind of life. That is Scarlett Johansson starring with Adam Driver in the 2019 film Marriage Story, a performance that earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Johansson also was nominated at those same 2020 Oscars for Best Supporting Actress in Jojo Rabbit. It was a rare feat in a career that has earned Johansson both critical praise and massive box-office success. In fact, she is the highest-grossing actor, man or woman, in the history of Hollywood with her movies taking in more than 14 and a half billion dollars. Now the 38 year old Johansson, who is married to Saturday Night Live star Colin Jost, is playing the lead in director Wes Anderson's anticipated new film Asteroid City. Scarlett and I got together for a Sunday sit-down at the New York offices of her startup skincare company called The Outset. Okay, this is our conference room. Believe it or not, this was my dining table. Is that true? It is true. You really are a scrappy organization. Scarlett Johansson has been scrappy from the start, on screen, and now in business with the launch of her skincare line, The Outset. I want to talk about The Outset a lot. I'm here for the eye cream. Great. The Colin Jost eye cream, as I understand it. That's how it's commonly known, I know. But let's start, if we can, with Asteroid City. Sure. Which is an amazing Wes Anderson film. Beautiful to look at, as all of his stuff is. My word, it's hot. Johansson plays Midge Campbell, a 1950s movie star forced to quarantine in the fictional desert town of Asteroid City. You're very good in the one about the tramp in the brothel who gets amnesia and becomes a pediatrician. You were very authentic. Actually, maybe my favorite character ever. I don't know why nobody else liked it. What is that phone call like when Wes says, not only do I want you in the movie, but I wrote a part for you? It's like a career dream goal. I was very excited to read a script in its entirety of his, which I'd never had the chance to do. And it was in the middle of COVID, and so it was, it actually was a really, even more exciting phone call to get, because it felt hopeful. I don't like the way that guy looked at us, the alien. How did he? Like we're doomed. Maybe we are. She is kind of narcissistic and self-involved in, I think, a way that's very alluring and enigmatic. She's aware that she's constantly being watched, and she doesn't mind that at all. This role came to you at a complicated time for you as well, to say the least. As we waited for the window of time to shoot because of COVID and all the regulations, you know, I got pregnant. So on my eight-week postpartum date, I was flying to Spain and with my young, you know, eight-week-old baby and Colin. And then I got to bring my infant baby to the table, and it could be held by Adrienne Brody and Willem Dafoe and Bryan Cranston and everybody else. The stories he will have, the earliest babysitters, all Academy Award winners. That's right. Johansson's own story begins in New York's Greenwich Village, where she grew up with dreams of starring in the Broadway musicals she saw with her mother. She began to audition and landed her first film role at just nine years old in Rob Reiner's North. After working steadily as a child actress, Johansson was thrust into adult stardom by her performance alongside Bill Murray in the I just don't know what I'm supposed to be. I forgot how young you were when you made that. I mean, 17, you're a high school kid. Was that a hard thing to have that many eyes on you and to be treated now as an adult effectively after that movie? I mean, I think just being that age is hard anyway. I felt like I was at a crossroads at that time because I, you know, Lost in Translation had come out and Girl with a Pearl Earring and I did some very exciting work, but then I felt like the work that was out there for me anyway was not. It just was sort of uninspired. She found the fire again on Broadway, starring and winning a Tony Award in the 2010 revival of A View from the Bridge, which sort of brings it full circle, not only to come to Broadway and do Arthur Miller, but to win a Tony Award. That must have been thrilling. It was thrilling. Our production was so incredibly received and feel totally welcomed by this community I admired for my entire life. And it just is so exciting and makes you feel like alive. And then it's the same year as the play that Black Widow and Iron Man 2 come along, right? Right. What did the Marvel movies do to your career and your life? I didn't know whether I would be accepted by the, you know, by this massive fan base that was already there. It was so early days in that genre. I mean, we were on the set of Avengers going, this could be really awful. I mean, it's so crazy. You have, I remember going, there's a Nordic God, we have a mutant, this rich playboy turned robot guy. I'm a Russian spy. Somebody that's been frozen in ice and comes up. It's like, I don't know. This is so goofy. But then here we are. So this is home. Yeah, that's the home away from home. When Johansson is not on set, she's here in the offices of The Outset, the skincare company she co-founded just over a year ago. This is our like best selling sort of trio. It's our cleanser, our prep serum and our daily moisturizer. I'm just realizing I don't do enough. I have no night cream. What? But you're on camera all the time. I know. I need to get more serious about my career. Well, I knew. So what compelled you to take on this challenge? Since I was probably 12, 13 years old and struggled with acne. And when I was younger, it was all about sort of stripping away your skin and basically resurface your entire face. And at some point I thought, you know, I was like, I have to kind of just stop everything and just try something else, which was just using very clean, moisturizing products. So is it true that Colin is a big proponent of the eye cream? Yes. That's his thing. Colin was our eye cream connoisseur. I never used eye cream before. And Colin uses it every day. And so I thought, well, why don't since, you know, it was during COVID and I didn't have so many people to test it on, Colin became our eye cream expert. Never looked better. So youthful. He is. He's like de-aging. It's very annoying. You're doing it all. And with a toddler at home, I mean, it's all very impressive. I mean, you know, I'm sure I left like the oven on or whatever. She's busy. Asteroid City is in theaters nationwide this Friday, June 23rd. And the Outset line of products is available online and at Sephora stores. Our big thanks to Scarlett, her co-founder Kate Foster and the Outset team for hosting our conversation. Don't forget to subscribe to the Sunday Sit-Down Podcast to hear the full extended conversation with Scarlett Johansson. There's a lot more in there. You can find it on Apple podcasts or wherever you get yours.