Not quite a remake… not quite a sequel…
It has been a minute since Scarlett Johansson has appeared in a new project.
2019 was a very busy year for the actress, as she appeared in Avengers: Endgame, and then featured in two huge Oscar-magnets, with Jojo Rabbit (for which she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress) and Marriage Story (which saw her nominated for Best Actress).
Scar-Jo also filmed Black Widow that year, which didn’t get released in cinemas until 2021, thanks to the pandemic.
But aside from that… nada.
However, she’ll be back on the big screen soon enough, with a trio of attention-grabbing releases – Project Artemis, Asteroid City, and My Mother’s Wedding will all likely be big blockbusters and/or awards contenders – but she’ll also be taking on her first leading role for TV.
As reported by Deadline, Johansson will be taking on the leading role in new Amazon Prime Video production, Just Cause.
No, this isn’t an adaptation of the hit video game series (although that would be kinda cool), but rather a new adaptation of the 1992 novel of the same name.
What makes it even more interesting is that Johansson already appeared in an adaptation of this book, when it was turned into a movie in 1995.
Her second-ever acting role, at the age of 10, Johansson played the on-screen daughter to Sean Connery, who played a Harvard professor who takes it upon himself to investigate the case of a man (Blair Underwood) on death row for a murder he claims he didn’t commit.
That movie, which also starred Ed Harris and Laurence Fishburne, was a minor box office success, but it was completely annihilated by critics, scoring just 26% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The new version will see Johansson play Madison “Madi” Cowart, a struggling Florida newspaper reporter who is sent to cover the final days of a death row inmate. Over time, she comes to believe in their innocence, which sticks much closer to the plot of the book.
Here’s hoping this version has a better time of it with the reviews.
If you want to watch the 1995 version of Just Cause, it is available to rent on Apple TV and Google Play right now.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
