Live-action remakes of beloved animated movies have been taking over the film industry in the past few years, from The Lion King and Aladdin, to How To Train Your Dragon earlier this year. One remake many fans are hyped about is the redo of Tangled, which was announced in 2024 with The Greatest Showman’s Michael Gracey signed on to direct. Since then, countless celebrities, from Florence Pugh to Benny Blanco, have been subject to online speculation regarding this remake. The latest movie star rumored to join the project is Scarlett Johansson, and the actress recently reacted to talk of her playing as Mother Gothel.
For a while, it looked like the live-action Tangled might not move forward. However, after a 6 month hiatus, pre-production has been confirmed to resume this month, and thus have the online chatter surrounding potential casting, with Scarlett Johansson rumored to be in consideration for Mother Gothel. Entertainment Tonight asked the Jurassic World Rebirth actress if this casting could become reality, and she gave a very candid, yet vague answer:
Is there a real possibility? I think anything is possible.
Upon seeing this initial reaction, I’m not convinced anyone from the project has reached out to her, which doesn’t surprise me. There have been plenty of fancasts that have been circulating much longer than ScarJo that still have no confirmation, like Sabrina Carpenter for Rapunzel (who recently dragged Joe Keery into the conversation after she ‘arrested’ him while performing “Juno” at Austin City Limits).
However, the Marvel alums' following comments are more intriguing to me, as they show she is well aware of the project and the director:
What would excite me about it would be the opportunity to work with Michael Gracey, who is attached to direct the film because he is absolutely an extraordinary visionary and any actor would love to have a collaboration.
If this project wasn’t on her radar, I’m not sure she would have known Gracey was directing, but then again, ScarJo is the highest-grossing actress in Hollywood. She may be too busy to even entertain this idea, but if anyone is in the know about upcoming projects in Hollywood, it’s her. This certainly doesn’t confirm the Asteroid City actress’ involvement in the upcoming Tangled, and I doubt we will get any answers soon as it seems like the project is still in the early stages of development.
The Marriage Story actress is potentially just giving credit where credit is due. Or perhaps the producers have offered her a role, but she has yet to accept. Who even knows if she’s interested in working with Disney again after her lawsuit against them over Black Widow. Either way, we can’t say for sure whether we will see the Fly Me To The Moon actress as Mother Gothel.
Personally, I’m not sure I can picture the Black Widow actress as the manipulative evil stepmother, as I haven’t seen her play that kind of part. And while we know she has a decent voice due to her casting in the animated picture Sing!, I’m not sold on her stacking up against the OG Mother Gothel, Broadway powerhouse Donna Murphy.
I may be skeptical, but I’m not against this potential casting. As a fan, I would like to see some other options thrown out there, though. A favorite I saw on Tiktok was Kathryn Hahn for Mother Gothel – a performer we know has that morally complex villain down pat after her performance in WandaVision/Agatha All Along. So my task for everyone is to rewatch Tangled, available to stream with a Disney+ subscription, and post your fan-casts online so that I may peruse them.
Fan-casts have been known to hold sway in the past, so it will be interesting to see if Scarlett Johansson will actually appear on the big screen in this upcoming Disney movie. At least now we know she’s at least seen the rumors and would potentially be down to sign onto the project.
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