TORONTO — Scarlett Johansson says she’s not one to be nervous when films she stars in get released into the world. But debuting a deeply personal film as a first-time director is a whole other matter.
Flanked by her cast from “Eleanor the Great,” Johansson told a recent press conference that she felt some anxiety in the lead-up to this Friday’s theatrical release, in large part because the material hits so close to home.
“This experience is more nerve-racking, I think, because I feel like I’m sharing something that I have been so close to; it’s suddenly exposed,” Johansson said at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month.
“Just more of a vulnerable feeling, I guess, but it’s exciting. I’m so happy that I get to be here with the cast, and for everybody to see all of their work is what I’m most excited about.”
The star behind blockbusters including “Jurassic World: Rebirth” and several entries in the Marvel franchise said she connected deeply with the subject matter of “Eleanor,” centred on a 94-year-old in Florida who spirals in grief after the death of her lifelong friend and roommate Bessie, played by Rita Zohar.
June Squibb stars as the bewildered Eleanor, who struggles to carve out a new life with her adult daughter and grandson in New York until she stumbles into a meeting for Holocaust survivors and shares Bessie’s story as her own.
Johansson said she’s always felt disconnected from her own Jewish heritage – traced through her mother’s side – because so many relatives died in the Holocaust and any stories that survived faded when her great-grandparents immigrated to start a “new American experience.”
“I always felt like there was something missing because I didn’t have a relationship with my extended family,” said Johansson.
“These disappearing stories are very much part of my DNA, because it’s a part of my own story, too. That aspect of the script really resonated with me.”
When the script came her way, Johansson recalled thinking: “’I have to make this.’”
“Which doesn’t happen often,” she added.
“I think you can only direct something that feels personal. Even when it’s ‘Jurassic Park,’ really. Otherwise it’s too hard, it’s too hard to do it. It gets too miserable.”
Squibb said she embraced the chance to spark discussion about the Holocaust through the film, which features actual Holocaust survivors as members of Eleanor’s support group – not to mention Zohar, who Johansson noted is also a survivor.
But Squibb said she also saw great love in Eleanor, despite her questionable choices.
“My God, she loves this woman so much that she will not let her death be the end of this, because it was too important,” Squibb said.
Squibb praised Johansson’s leadership on set, as did co-stars Erin Kellyman, who plays a journalism student who befriends Eleanor, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, who plays Nina’s father and a reporter who latches onto Eleanor’s story.
“She’s very decisive, which I love,” Squibb said of working with Johansson.
“There’s nothing worse than a director who doesn’t answer you or is like, ‘Oh, I’m not sure about that.’ But this one really knows immediately how she feels about things. And that’s just great. And also, she listens.
“And I felt that she was really with me in terms of how I work, that she knew immediately what I was doing. So that made that easier.”
The 95-year-old Squibb said she’s also revelling in her second lead role in as many years – after last year’s “Thelma.”
“I did some great things and some bad things,” she said of a lengthy acting career that largely focused on the stage until her first film role at age 61.
“But this is different. It is different, you have a certain responsibility but you also get a lot of the kudos that you didn’t get when you were supporting. So I mean, it all evens out. But I’m having a great time.”
Squibb said she’s doing a play next and is talking about another possible film role with the producers of 2013’s “Nebraska,” which brought her an Oscar nomination for supporting actress. She sees no retirement in her future.
“As long as they can take me as I am, I just feel I’ll keep doing it,” said Squibb, explaining later that she needs a cane these days.
“If I can sit down and not walk around too much, I could do a scene,” said Squibb.
Johansson said “Eleanor” is largely about love and loss, and hopes the audience can find empathy and compassion for people struggling like her problematic protagonist.
“A theme throughout this film that’s very important to me is forgiveness and we certainly could use more of it,” she said.
“Eleanor is in such a state of grief and loneliness and is desperately trying to connect and to be seen and also feels this urgency to honour her friend’s legacy.
“And it’s complicated. Her appropriation of this story is complicated.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2025.
Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press
