Scarlett Johansson stars in Ray Gunn, Brad Bird’s long-lost animated noir that blends The Maltese Falcon with Buck Rogers for Netflix.
Scarlett Johansson stars in what might be the most personally significant project of her career—and not because of the role itself, but because of who she gets to work with. Ray Gunn, Brad Bird’s 30-years-in-the-making animated detective noir, pairs Johansson with Sam Rockwell and Tom Waits in a retro-futuristic Metropia where humans and aliens coexist, crime runs rampant, and the last human private eye still takes cases the machines won’t touch.
Johansson plays Venus Nova, the world’s most famous pop star whose scandals threaten to destroy her career and possibly cost her life. It’s a role that lets her lean into the multimedia celebrity persona she knows intimately, while Bird’s alternate-1939 setting gives it a distance that makes the commentary feel playful rather than pointed. She called the collaboration “a career milestone” and said she has “loved his work my entire life.”
Bird, for his part, returned the admiration. He specifically sought Johansson for her ability to give animators “a bar to reach in terms of performance.” In animation, voice actors record lines that animators will listen to hundreds of times over weeks of work. The best performers keep the animators inspired through sheer vocal charisma. Johansson has that in abundance.
Scarlett Johansson Stars Alongside Rockwell and Waits
Scarlett Johansson stars alongside Sam Rockwell, who plays Raymond Gunn, the small-time PI navigating a world where detective work has been largely automated. Rockwell brings the same twitchy, lived-in energy that made him perfect for Three Billboards and The White Lotus—a man who is always slightly overwhelmed by circumstances but refuses to show it. His Gunn is described as “the last human private detective,” which is either a commentary on automation or just a really cool job title.
Tom Waits plays Eyera, a one-eyed alien who serves as Ray’s most trusted ally. Bird called Waits “one of these multi-talents” who brings music and acting together in ways that keep every scene interesting. For a director who has worked with Holly Hunter, Patton Oswalt, and Peter O’Toole, that’s high praise.
The film’s visual style draws from Art Deco and pre-war futurism, creating a Metropia that feels simultaneously nostalgic and alien. Bird has been refining this aesthetic since 1996, when Turner Feature Animation first considered the project. The merger that killed that version sent Bird to Warner Bros., where he made The Iron Giant instead. Now, through Netflix and Skydance Animation, he finally gets to realize the vision that predates even his most beloved work.
Michael Giacchino scores the film, continuing a collaboration that began with The Incredibles. John Ratzenberger voices a character, maintaining his streak of appearing in every Bird-directed film. Ray Gunn is less a new project than a reunion of everyone Bird trusts, finally assembled for the story he never stopped thinking about.
Scarlett Johansson stars in a lot of movies. But this one represents something rare: a director getting to complete a creative journey that spans three decades, with an actress who understands exactly why that matters.
Watch Scarlett Johansson stars in Ray Gunn on Netflix December 18 and see what 30 years of artistic persistence looks like.
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