Scarlett Johansson Lied To Robert Redford | Letterman

Where are you from?

New York.

You're in New York City, right here.

Oh, well, good for you.

How old a girl, woman, girl are you?

Girl, 13.

13, so you're just a kid then.

You're just really a kid.

Sure.

Yeah, was this like your first big movie, this Robert Redford deal?

This was the first, this was like the largest part that I've ever had other than I did an independent film called Manny and Lo, and I played Manny, so.

So you've been doing this a while then?

Yeah, I guess, you know, in scarlet years, it's a while.

In scarlet years, meaning, sure, it eats up a huge percentage of your life.

Right.

But you're only 13, so what are we talking about, really, then?

I've been doing it for about five years.

How did you get started?

Did your folks help you get started?

Did you always want to be an actress?

When did you know?

I've always wanted to be an actress.

I mean, ever since I can remember.

I mean, I remember when I was three telling my mom that I had a fire in my brain to act, and...

you know she must have thought i was crazy or something but she said um you know wait until you get older yeah and i remember when i was three i told my mom there's something wrong in my diapers that's a whole different deal though uh do you have a big family

A pretty big family.

I have three other siblings and my two parents.

Are they older, younger?

I have a twin brother.

I have an older brother and an older sister.

And are they also interested in acting?

Nobody in my family is actually.

I was the first one.

Now when you're like this, when you're just still a kid and you're in school and you have friends and you have family, how do they react to the fact that you're like a big shot actor?

How does that go?

Is that a problem for you or for them?

Well, I mean, my friends have been pretty good about it and they've always really encouraged me to just go for it.

Well, that's nice.

So you find them to be very supporting and nurturing.

Yeah.

Well, that's good, good, because a lot of times, you know, they can be, kids especially can be petty, and you don't want that.

That's not fun for anybody.

No, they've been pretty good about it.

Well, good, that probably says something lovely about you.

It's probably because you're a nice, decent person that they behave in kind.

Well, that's debatable, but, you know.

And so this thing is like you're out there in Montana.

Had you ever been to Montana before?

No, I'd never been that, I mean, other than California, never been out that far west before.

Right.

What was it, how long were you actually in Montana?

We were there for about four months.

So the whole shoot took about six months altogether.

What was your impression of Montana?

Very vast.

Vast, yes.

You know, it's a big sky country.

Yeah, sure.

Yeah, I noticed that, you know.

Um...

I didn't even know the sky was blue before I went out there.

It really is a different kind of blue, isn't it?

Yeah, it's amazing.

It's like not even blue.

It's like rainbow colored.

It's nearly as blue as Robert Redford's eyes.

Oh, God.

Yeah, I know.

And did you ride horses and stuff?

I had never really ridden horses before.

I mean, I actually told them.

I kind of, I felt bad about it afterwards.

You lied that you were an accomplished equestrian?

Well, no, I didn't say.

I didn't use those words exactly.

But, you know, Bob Redford said, have you ever been on a horse before?

And I said, yes, I've been on a horse before.

They may have been plastic, you know.

But I didn't tell him that.

I just said I'd been on a horse before.

I took him literally.

And then when I got the part and we started filming,

The wranglers called the casting director.

My casting director called my agent and was like screaming on the phone.

She doesn't know what she's doing.

We thought she knew how to ride.

She was like, no, she told you she'd been on a horse before.

Exactly.

Yeah.

And did you finally take to it all right?

I mean, what is the trick?

You just have to be comfortable on the animal, don't you?

Yeah.

I mean, I think after a few lessons, I was more comfortable and confident with what I was doing.

You know, at first I was kind of like.

And what about, you called Robert Redford Bob.

Now, is that all right?

Did we call him Bob?

Well, I don't really call him Bob.

What did you call him?

I call him Bowie.

Called him Bowie.

Yeah.

He didn't really like it at first, but after a while, he got used to it.

He got used to being called Bowie.

Yeah.

And why exactly was Bowie the name of choice?

Well, I think I didn't like to call him Bob.

You know, it's not that I don't like the name Bob.

All you Bobs out there, you know, don't be offended.

But I think that...

I didn't...

I felt like if I... Bob sounded too formal and too kind of... Like, the people that thought it was cool to know him would call him Bob, you know?

Like, me and Bob.

First of all, he's too old to be called Bob.

Well, come on.

You could call him Robert.

You could call him Robert.

You could call him Mr. Redford.

I don't know about this Bowie thing.

That's between you and Bob.

But the fact that the guy is in his late 70s means... You're not calling him Bob.

You know what I'm saying?

Well, I think you've added a couple years on there.

You know, I'm getting ready to go to, I'm going to Montana on Friday.

I'm going out there.

I've never been to Montana before.

Why?

I'm very excited.

Because every, well, it turns out, I am an actual, a couple of years ago, I realized I'm a cowboy.

And sooner or later, every cowboy answers the call of the big sky.

Yeah, sure, sure.

So I gotta go.

I just gotta go.

I can't help myself.

I agree, I agree.

Now what do I have in store for me?

Will it be fun or will I get beat up?

Well, I'd say we kind of, I mean, it was wonderful out there and it was incredible.

Would you go back?

I yeah I'd go back definitely but I mean I we experience things there that we I mean coming from New York never really experienced before like this you know there's so many mountains and just big open fields and a lot of wildlife is out there but I think one of the things that we ran into that you might want to like steer clear of are the plagues plagues yeah

What do you mean?

We had mosquitoes and locusts.

That's nothing.

I'm a cowboy.

I can handle that crap.

How was Bowie on a horse, by the way?

I was very impressed.

I heard that he broke his hip getting on.

Well, you know, that's between you and me.

But does he whisper into the horse's ear?

Do you see a lot of that?

Is there a lot of that?

Whispering into the horse's ear?

Not exactly.

But he's the horse whisperer, right?

Right, yeah.

Well, I haven't seen it because Bowie wouldn't send me a copy of the film.

But I saw...

But I saw the...

little clips of it.

It looks beautiful.

The film looks just stunningly beautiful.

Well, our DP did like an incredible job.

I wasn't like, it was so, I said DP, you know, director of photography.

That's the better name.

Very hip.

Very hip.

He was like, it wasn't, he did a wonderful job of capturing that, but

it wasn't so hard for him because it's just incredible out there, you know?

And to capture the beauty is really what he did.

And then when you're dealing with a guy like Bowie, you gotta, you know, as the DP, you want to shoot him through a lot of trees and a lot of leaves and stuff.

Listen, it was nice meeting you.

Congratulations on the lovely film.

And have a great summer, all right?