Once she has finished buying a Zoo and assembling the Avengers, Scarlett Johansson plans to make her directorial debut from a lost Truman Capote novella that only just resurfaced.
Capote wrote “Summer Crossing” in the 1940s, but ignored it and left it to only be unearthed and published in 2005. It retells an oft-told story of a teenage girl – in this case, Grady McNeil -- discovering her sexual independence as she fights to break free from her stifling New York family. Capote set his story against the backdrop of a nation emerging from the horrors of World War II, but stands apart from the pack for its bleak, depressing ending (no spoilers here).
Variety says Oscar winner Barry Spikings (The Deer Hunter) will produce Johansson’s film, which New York playwright Tristine Skyler will adapt from Capote’s retrieved novel. There’s no timetable in the trade story, and Johansson’s currently filming Jonathan Glazer’s predatory-alien thriller Under the Skin, but she likely could begin shooting once that film has wrapped (taking a break for what’s bound to be a lengthy promotional campaign for Marvel’s Avengers). So how will Johansson manage as a director? She becomes the latest actor in a long line of performers making the leap behind the camera. Maybe that’s why she was spending all that time with Sean Penn recently. She was picking his brain for directorial secrets! In all honesty, though, she has worked with extremely talented filmmakers over the years, from Robert Redford and Woody Allen to Brian De Palma and Christopher Nolan. She no doubt absorbed trade secrets on the sets of their films over the years, and it will be exciting to see how she applies that knowledge to her own passion project.
