To have made this film, and to be able to show it in Cannes, is really a dream come true, says Scarlett Johansson.
The film's Eleanor, played by June Squibb, is an old lady who for years has shared an apartment in Florida with her best friend Bessie – both are widows. When Bessie, who was saved from the Holocaust, passes away, Eleanor moves to her daughter in New York. She gets to know the 19-year-old Nina and becomes friends with her.
"Started crying"
Eleanor ends up at a meeting for Holocaust survivors and tells Bessie's story as if it were her own. But this lie will bring big problems.
When I read the script, I started crying, and that doesn't happen often. Sometimes a script makes you extremely moved, and that's fantastic, says Scarlett Johansson.
She felt that the story had great potential.
And I thought that I would probably be able to tell this story. It reminded me so much of independent films from the 90s. I did many such films then, saw many, and I felt that I was always drawn to them as a fan.
"Weird" with audience
Now that the film has had its world premiere, she thinks it almost feels weird that it gets an audience.
I've lived with it for so long. When you act in a film, it's someone else who decides. I've worked with my film in a bubble for so long that it feels big to share it with everyone. Nervous? Yes, a bit, but hopefully many will see it.
It's a film that deals with so much, about friendship and about sorrow and about forgiveness, and all that is something that we really need in the world right now, more than ever.
Scarlett Johansson praises her actors, 96-year-old June Squibb and 26-year-old Erin Kellyman who plays Nina.
Moreover, the film is a love letter to New York as a city.
The film has Swedish distribution through SF, but it is currently uncertain whether it will have a cinema release in Sweden.
Age: 40 years.
Family: Husband Colin Jost, two children.
Occupation: Actress, director.
Previous films in selection: "The Man Who Could Talk to Horses", "Girl with a Pearl Earring", "Lost in Translation", "Match Point", "The Black Dahlia", "Vicky Cristina Barcelona", a number of Marvel films, "Hitchcock", "Under the Skin", "Ghost in the Shell", "Jojo Rabbit", "Asteroid City".
Currently with: "The Phoenician Scheme", "Eleanor the Great" (directed) which are both shown at the film festival in Cannes.
