Scarlett Johansson Joins Wes Anderson’s Latest Film Amid Disney Lawsuit
Scarlett Johansson has landed a role in Wes Anderson’s untitled forthcoming movie following her lawsuit against Disney-owned Marvel Studios.
The French Dispatch‘s director’s upcoming project already has frequent collaborators Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton and Bill Murray signed up to star, with Margot Robbie and Tom Hanks also joining the cast.
36-year-old Johansson previously worked with Anderson on 2018’s Isle of Dogs, providing the voice of Nutmeg in the stop-motion animated film. Anderson’s latest film, The French Dispatch, premieres in theaters on October 22.
Watch the trailer below:
Last month, Johansson sued Disney for breach of contract when Black Widow was released on the Disney+ streaming service at the same time as its theatrical debut.
In the lawsuit, Johansson said her agreement with Marvel Studios guaranteed an exclusive movie theaters release and her salary was based largely on box-office performance.
The suit alleges that “Disney intentionally induced Marvel’s breach of the agreement, without justification, in order to prevent Ms. Johansson from realizing the full benefit of her bargain with Marvel.” Johansson’s representatives wanted to renegotiate her contract after learning of the Disney+ release strategy for Black Widow, but the suit said that Disney and Marvel were “unresponsive to the request.”
“It’s no secret that Disney is releasing films like Black Widow directly onto Disney+ to increase subscribers and thereby boost the company’s stock price – and that it’s hiding behind COVID-19 as a pretext to do so,” Johansson’s attorney John Berlinski said in a statement. “But ignoring the contracts of the artists responsible for the success of its films in furtherance of this short-sighted strategy violates their rights and we look forward to proving as much in court. This will surely not be the last case where Hollywood talent stands up to Disney and makes it clear that, whatever the company may pretend, it has a legal obligation to honor its contracts.”
Gallery: Scenes From ‘Black Widow’
