Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson sat down for a chat for “Variety Studio: Actors on Actors.” For more, pick up the Actors on Actors issue on Nov. 12, tune into PBS SoCal on Jan. 2 or stay tuned right here at Variety.com.
When Scarlett Johansson first sees Chris Evans at our photo shoot, she lets out a shriek of joy. It’s as if she’s spotted a long-lost relative, and, in a way, she has — Johansson and Evans first met in their late teens on the comedy “The Perfect Score,” played a romantic duet in “The Nanny Diaries” and went on to land lead roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which reached a crescendo this past spring with “Avengers: Endgame.” This winter, both successfully pivot away from superheroics: Johansson plays an actor suffering through a difficult divorce in Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story,” and a mother in Holocaust Germany in Taika Waititi’s satirical “Jojo Rabbit.” Evans, far from the virtuous Captain America, is the snobbish grandson of a famous novelist in Rian Johnson’s tantalizing murder mystery “Knives Out.”
Chris Evans: I just did see “Marriage Story,” and it’s phenomenal. I’ll be shocked if you’re not showered with awards, but what made you want to tell that story? It’s heavy. It’s dark.
Scarlett Johansson: Probably 10 years ago, Noah and I tried to work on something else together. We kind of developed for a little bit, and then it didn’t end up being right, and by the time it was ready to shoot, I was kind of past it. It wasn’t the right fit.
I’m sure you’ve probably had that experience before, where you feel like maybe something didn’t work out professionally and you’re like: “Well, there goes that relationship.” That’s never happened to you?