- Hi I'm Krista Smith,
and welcome to "The Corner Booth".
And I've got Scarlett Johansson in the house.
- I'm in "The Corner Booth".
- You are in "The Corner Booth".
And we're gonna talk about her new movie
"Marriage Story" and a lot more.
(sorrowful music)
- All the problems were there in the beginning too.
I got smaller.
Who the fuck is us?
I think about being married to you
and that woman is a stranger to me!
If I was honest with myself,
it was like a small part of me felt dead.
(relaxing jazz music)
- So I'm very vested in your career
and your choices and I see everything that you're in.
And I feel like this,
is the greatest role you've had yet to date.
- When I actually committed to the film,
it was a couple of months of months after
Noah and I first started talking about this project.
And he sorta gauged my interest
and he said, "Okay, you're interested,
"I'm gonna keep going."
And he was writing.
And writing with kinda me in mind
and with Adam in mind and Laura in mind.
He said to me, "Okay, I'm contacting you again,
"I have something for you to look at.
"I wrote, like, a seven page scene for you."
And it was the moment when my character
first meets Laura's character
and I'm basically just presenting myself
and telling her who I am, how I got there
and he came, he delivered these pages
and what he'd written,
I just could not let anybody else say those words.
I just worry 'cause we weren't gonna use lawyers so,
I don't wanna be too aggressive.
I wanna stay friends.
- I was gonna ask you about that scene
because it feels like it's one tracking shot,
you're just reciting dialogue from you get up,
you go to the bathroom,
you get a Kleenex,
you come back down, you get up,
it's like an incredible scene.
How was that to shoot?
- It was fun getting to play around with this dialogue
and have as much time as I want.
And I mean, it never happens that way when you're filming.
But anyway so, while I was there,
the producer invited me to see a play.
(Scarlett sniffling)
Took place in someone's apartment with all the lights on.
It was like nothing I'd ever seen before.
You know, it's work to get to a place
where you feel confident enough
that you can get it in a few takes.
And it's just so different than
the process of doing theater,
but this actually felt more like the process
of doing theater.
And the fact that I had, you know, seemingly endless time
to play around with it
and have as many opportunities to get it wrong, as I wanted.
- Well you had so many louder scenes,
for lack of a better word,
but the quiet scenes you just broke my heart.
- I think what I was so attracted to
and what I could relate to in this
was actually what remains between the characters
which is just love, a lot of love.
And it actually felt pretty much like a love story to me.
Which of course is heartbreaking
but also so much more poignant
than a film about two people that, y'know,
have grown to hate each other
because that's not really what this is about.
- So I love your voice and you're a singer anyway
but what was it like when you read that in the script
that you were gonna do that song from "Company"?
- You know, I thought it was so strange
that he chose that song.
I mean, I was just, "Why, why this song from this show?"
I still have no idea why, it's so crazy to me,
but it was so annoying to get there on the first day,
I had so much work to do,
obviously the dialogue's extensive,
I had so much to shoot.
And they were like, "So your vocal coach is here,
"and the choreographer."
And I was like, "Oh my god."
♪ Do-Do, you can drive a person crazy ♪
♪ You can drive a person mad ♪
♪ Do-Do, do-do, do ♪
The whole choreography, I was like,
"Why is this happening to us?"
We had so much other work to do
but actually, it bonded us.
You know, it bonded us, the experience and it was,
we all cursed, you know, with that, we were just--
- How was working with Adam?
- It was wonderful.
It was really one of my most kinda treasured experiences,
I think, as an actor, was being able to develop
this relationship with Adam.
- Do you view relationships differently now
that you've lived through this process
and said those beautiful words
and kinda acted out this stuff?
- I had heard someone once say that,
"Divorce is not a failure."
You know, a lot of people, it feels like a failure
when you're going through it
and I think a lot of people view it that way.
But actually, you should still celebrate the time,
the marriage that you had,
that you spent 10 good years or whatever it is
with that other person
and all you accomplished in that time.
You wanted something, you were married, you made something,
you gave it a shot.
And I think that it's an idea that this film deserves
a Valentine for the success
of that decade of time with somebody.
- Well you give a stunning performance.
- Thank you.
- Thank you so much for stopping by.
- Thank you!
- Good to see you.
Thanks, you too, in the corner.