Scarlett Johansson slams toxic typecasting in early career

Scarlett Johansson just opened up about landing numerous roles centered around “desirability” and “the male gaze.”

While giving an interview to The Times of London, the 40-year-old American actress and singer revealed that after stepping into the acting world, she was offered roles revolving around “desirability” and the objectives and expectations of her male colleagues.

Johansson, who now believes Hollywood of today is entering “a different time for young women,” said, “The messaging is different — there are many more role models, women are visible in powerful positions and the opportunities I have had to play women who don’t have to just be one thing or another have increased.”

She added, “But when I was younger, a lot of the roles I was offered, or I went for, had their ambitions or character arcs revolving around their own desirability, or the male gaze, or a male-centred story. That is less frequent, though — something has shifted.”

Notably, back in 2022, The Avengers star spoke about her representation in Hollywood, claiming that she was “hypersexualised” in the industry at a very young age and it was so bad that she ended up thinking it would be impossible to get different kinds of roles.

At that time, Johansson stated, “I kind of became objectified and pigeonholed in this way where I felt like I wasn’t getting offers for work for things that I wanted to do.”

“I remember thinking to myself, ‘I think people think I’m 40 years old.’ It somehow stopped being something that was desirable and something that I was fighting against,” the Jurassic World Rebirth actress shared.