Five Things to Know about Scarlett Johansson

Actress Scarlett Johansson is in Cannes making her directorial debut and as star of a new Wes Anderson film. KEVIN WINTER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File
Actress Scarlett Johansson is in Cannes making her directorial debut and as star of a new Wes Anderson film. KEVIN WINTER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File
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Five Things to Know about Scarlett Johansson

Actress Scarlett Johansson is in Cannes making her directorial debut and as star of a new Wes Anderson film. KEVIN WINTER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File
Actress Scarlett Johansson is in Cannes making her directorial debut and as star of a new Wes Anderson film. KEVIN WINTER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File

One of Hollywood's top-grossing actresses, Scarlett Johansson will walk the red carpet twice at Cannes, for her directorial debut with "Eleanor the Great" and for Wes Anderson's film "The Phoenician Scheme", which premieres Monday.

Here are five things to know about the teen star turned Hollywood A-Lister:

Starlet Scarlett

When baby Johansson was born into a Jewish family in Manhattan in 1984, early signs suggested stardom was ahead.

Her parents named her after Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone With the Wind", and at a young age she was drawn to tap dance and theatre.

Barely into double-digits she made her screen debut, and soon after Robert Redford cast her in "The Horse Whisperer" for her first major role.

Then, just shy of 20, she hit the big time with Sofia Coppola's art-house classic "Lost in Translation".

In the film, which unfolds in the alienating surroundings of a Tokyo hotel, Johansson manages to touch the heart of an ever-sardonic Bill Murray as well as charming spectators and critics worldwide.

Cha-ching!

Over the next decades, Johansson has starred in a string of hits and top directors have queued up to cast her, from Wes Anderson and the Coen brothers to Jonathan Glazer and Christopher Nolan.

Catapulting her into movie stratosphere, she joined the Marvel universe as the indomitable Black Widow in 2010 and made eight films with the franchise.

During this collaboration she topped the Forbes list of highest-paid actresses and featured in hits including "Avengers: Infinity War" (2018), one of the top-10 highest grossing films of all time according to IMDB Pro.

Other missions

But Johansson the box-office megastar has also missed out on, or sidestepped, plenty of big roles.

There was a potential "Mission Impossible" movie but this was shelved, officially due to scheduling clashes.

She did not land the lead in "Les Miserables", which went to Anne Hathaway, who won an Oscar for it, nor did she get Lisbeth Salander in "Millennium".

But she was plenty busy, often starring in lower-budget films that wowed critics and audiences.

These included a stand-out performance as an alien in Jonathan Glazer's remarkable "Under the Skin" (2013), shot in wintery backstreets, abandoned houses and seedy minivans.

So far, she has not won an Oscar, but she was nominated for best actress and supporting actress in 2020 for her roles in indie favorites "Marriage Story" and "Jojo Rabbit".

That voice

It is unmistakable and Johansson has capitalized on it, though sometimes with unwanted repercussions.

She brought her deep, distinctive vocals to the voice of Samantha in "Her" (2013) by Spike Jonze, about an artificial intelligence system Joaquin Phoenix falls for.

But in May last year Johansson accused tech firm OpenAI of using her voice in their own generative AI ChatGPT, which responded by modifying its tone.

She can also be heard in hit animations including "The Jungle Book" and the two "Sing" films.

Johansson has also released two albums, "Anywhere I Lay My Head" in 2008 and a year later "Break Up".

They did not rock the music world, but reviewing the inaugural album, Pitchfork called it a "curio" while praising the "wide textural range" of Johansson's voice.

Against the grain

Never reluctant to speak her mind, Johansson has been outspoken on various social and film-related issues.

She has supported victims of harassment, pushed for gender-equal pay and spotlighted the impact of streaming on theatrical releases.

She is also willing to take more controversial stances, not least in defending Woody Allen -- who has cast her in three films -- when much of Hollywood has shunned him over a long-running sexual assault scandal.

"I love Woody. I believe him, and I would work with him any time," she told The Hollywood Reporter in 2019.



Spielberg Teases New Alien Film 'Disclosure Day' as 'More Truth Than Fiction'

FILE PHOTO: Steven Spielberg, winner of the MPA America250 Award, speaks during the Universal Pictures and Focus Features presentation at CinemaCon, the official convention of Cinema United, in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, April 15, 2026. REUTERS/Caroline Brehman/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Steven Spielberg, winner of the MPA America250 Award, speaks during the Universal Pictures and Focus Features presentation at CinemaCon, the official convention of Cinema United, in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, April 15, 2026. REUTERS/Caroline Brehman/File Photo
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Spielberg Teases New Alien Film 'Disclosure Day' as 'More Truth Than Fiction'

FILE PHOTO: Steven Spielberg, winner of the MPA America250 Award, speaks during the Universal Pictures and Focus Features presentation at CinemaCon, the official convention of Cinema United, in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, April 15, 2026. REUTERS/Caroline Brehman/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Steven Spielberg, winner of the MPA America250 Award, speaks during the Universal Pictures and Focus Features presentation at CinemaCon, the official convention of Cinema United, in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, April 15, 2026. REUTERS/Caroline Brehman/File Photo

Steven Spielberg described his 1977 UFO film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" as his own "speculation" about intelligent life on other planets.

His new alien movie, "Disclosure Day," will offer what Spielberg believes is "more truth than fiction," the veteran filmmaker told theater operators on Wednesday at the CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas.

The maker of "E.T." and 2005's "War of the Worlds" said he decided to journey back into the extraterrestrial realm after reading a 2017 ⁠New York Times ⁠report about US military pilots who reported seeing mysterious flying objects.

"I really, truly believe this movie is going to answer questions," Spielberg said of "Disclosure Day.And this movie is also going to cause you to ask a lot of questions."

"All you need to get from the beginning ⁠to the end is a seat belt," he teased, without elaborating on the plot.

Footage shown to the CinemaCon crowd gave a brief glimpse of an alien leaning over a human child. The film stars Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor, Colman Domingo and Colin Firth.

"Disclosure Day" will be released by Universal Pictures in June, Reuters reported.

Universal also brought out another acclaimed director, Christopher Nolan, to promote his upcoming film "The Odyssey." The movie, set to debut in July, is based on Homer's epic ⁠about a Greek ⁠king trying to return home after the Trojan War.

"The Odyssey is a story that has fascinated generation after generation for 3,000 years," he said. "It is not a story. It's the story."

The "Oppenheimer" director said "The Odyssey" was "an absolute nightmare to film, but in all the right ways."

Star Matt Damon, who plays Odysseus, endured rough conditions throughout the project, Nolan said.

"He was just there, out there on the boats, up in the mountains, in the caves, in beating sunshine, in sideways rain, wind," he said.

"It's meant to be difficult. That's the nature of the story."


Tom Cruise Touts ‘Wild’ Dark Comedy ‘Digger’ to Theater Owners

 Cast member Tom Cruise and director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu of the upcoming film "Digger" react during the Warner Bros. Pictures presentation at CinemaCon, the official convention of Cinema United, in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, April 14, 2026. (Reuters)
Cast member Tom Cruise and director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu of the upcoming film "Digger" react during the Warner Bros. Pictures presentation at CinemaCon, the official convention of Cinema United, in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, April 14, 2026. (Reuters)
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Tom Cruise Touts ‘Wild’ Dark Comedy ‘Digger’ to Theater Owners

 Cast member Tom Cruise and director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu of the upcoming film "Digger" react during the Warner Bros. Pictures presentation at CinemaCon, the official convention of Cinema United, in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, April 14, 2026. (Reuters)
Cast member Tom Cruise and director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu of the upcoming film "Digger" react during the Warner Bros. Pictures presentation at CinemaCon, the official convention of Cinema United, in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, April 14, 2026. (Reuters)

Tom Cruise said he took four decades of acting to get to a place where he could play the eccentric oil tycoon at the center of an upcoming dark comedy, "Digger."

Cruise introduced the first images from the movie on Tuesday at the CinemaCon convention of theater owners in Las Vegas.

They showed the 63-year-old transformed into the character Digger Rockwell, an older man with thinning gray hair, a beer belly, a Southern accent and a fondness ‌for cats.

In ‌the movie, Rockwell inadvertently unleashes an ecological disaster that ‌carries ⁠the world to ⁠the brink of nuclear war, before scrambling to try and save the planet.

"It took 40 years to be able to put on the boots of Digger Rockwell and play the many, many layers of this character," Cruise said. "The movie is wild, it's funny, and I can't wait for you all to see it."

The Warner Bros movie is set ⁠to debut in theaters in October.

Cruise was joined on ‌stage by the film's director, four-time Oscar ‌winner Alejandro Inarritu.

The maker of "Birdman" and "The Revenant" said he and Cruise first discussed ‌the film seven years ago.

Cruise, who was filming "Top Gun: Maverick" ‌at the time, said he had been an admirer of Inarritu's films and rushed over to the director's house on his motorcycle when he asked to meet.

"We know that he is fearless: the stunts, the planes, the jumps," Inarritu ‌said of Cruise. "But I have to say, I think this is another kind of fearless. This ⁠role possibly could ⁠be (his) most challenging," adding, "It was a high-wire act."

Cruise kicked off a celebrity-studded presentation of upcoming films from Warner Bros, the studio coming off a year of commercial success and 11 Oscars. It is in the process of being sold to Paramount Skydance in $110-billion deal.

Zendaya, Timothee Chalamet and Jason Momoa touted "Dune: Part Three," the conclusion to the sci-fi series due for release in December. The film is set 17 years after the events of the second "Dune" movie.

"The years don't seem to have been kind to anyone on Dune," Zendaya said, explaining where the series picks up. "It's been a really difficult, challenging, ungentle and unkind few years, and I think there's so much left still to fight for."


Billy Crystal Will Return to Broadway in One-Man Show About the House He Lost to LA Wildfires

Billy Crystal arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party on March 2, 2025, at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP)
Billy Crystal arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party on March 2, 2025, at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP)
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Billy Crystal Will Return to Broadway in One-Man Show About the House He Lost to LA Wildfires

Billy Crystal arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party on March 2, 2025, at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP)
Billy Crystal arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party on March 2, 2025, at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP)

Billy Crystal will return to Broadway this fall in a very intimate one-man show that will take the audience into his family's longtime Los Angeles home that was leveled in wildfires.

“860,” written and performed by the Tony- and Emmy-winner, will begin previews this October at a theater to be revealed later. The title comes from the street address for the home Crystal and his family lived in for 46 years, a house lost in last year's devastating Palisades fires.

“I invite you to come inside 860 and I’ll tell you all the funny and touching things that happened there, not only in my career but to our family,” Crystal said in a statement. “It’s a joyous and heartfelt visit, about how with the love of family and friends and your inner strength, you can get through tough times.”

This is Crystal’s first return to Broadway following his “Mr. Saturday Night,” which he premiered in 2022 and earned Tony nominations for best book and lead actor in a musical. Scott Ellis will direct his new work.

Crystal has had success with one-man shows before. He turned his memoir “700 Sundays” into a stage show — in 2004 and revived in 2013 — that won him a Drama Desk Award in 2005.

The Palisades and Eaton fires erupted in Jan. 7, 2025, killing 31 people and destroying about 13,000 homes and other residential properties. The fires burned for more than three weeks and clean-up efforts took about seven months.

At the televised fundraising concert FireAid, held at the end of January 2025, Crystal appeared as the first host in the same clothes he was wearing when he fled his family home.

Crystal said he returned to the wreckage of his home and began to wail: “I had not cried like that since I was 15 and I was told that my father had just died.” His daughters soon found a rock in the wreckage with the word “Laughter” engraved in it.

Crystal made a name for himself first in comedy, from stand-up to TV’s “Soap” to the films “When Harry Met Sally” and “City Slickers.” Then in 1992, he got serious with the movie “Mr. Saturday Night,” which he directed, co-wrote and starred in.