Scarlett Johansson is one of the biggest actresses in Hollywood today. Starting as a child actress, she has starred in multiple critically acclaimed and award-winning roles. However, when she first got into the profession, her dream was to someday star in a musical.
Scarlett Johansson
However, her dream never took off, not even when presented with an excellent chance to star in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Sound of Music musical. Due to the alleged intervention of her team back then, she, unfortunately, had to let go of the opportunity.
Young Scarlett Johansson Wanted To Star In Musicals
Starring in musicals was ScarJo’s childhood dream
Scarlett Johansson is an established action star now, but back when she started acting, her dream was to star in musicals. After her feat in the blockbuster Avengers franchise who would think she wanted to be up on the stage doing musicals. But that’s what she had in mind, as Johannson herself once stated in an interview with the Seattle Times
“I actually started acting because I wanted to be in musicals when I was a little girl. That’s where my dream career was going to be when I was 8 years old, like the young Cosette in ‘Les Miserables.’ Then I started making films and I never ended up doing musical theater.”
As her career took off, the Jojo Rabbit star unintentionally ‘buried’ her musical self.
“Of course, by the time I turned 13, I kind of buried that part of myself. You know, it’s always been there. I’ve always loved to sing and I’ve always loved music and listened to lots of music and all kinds of music.”
She later went on to star in all kinds of films, from drama to thriller, but never really had the chance to do a musical. That was until years later the celebrated theatre composer Andrew Lloyd Webber approached her for one, which regretfully she had to turn down.
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Scarlett Johansson Lost Her Chance To Star In An Andrew Lloyd Webber Musical
Andrew Lloyd Webber
In the early 2000s, theatre composer Andrew Lloyd Webber decided to make a stage play musical of The Sound of Music with Johannson in the lead. And Scarlett Johansson finally happy to have her childhood dream within her grasp, readily agreed. In an interview with Contact Music, Webber revealed,
“We had a hysterical lunch which ended in the early hours of the morning. We were at the top of the Peninsula Hotel and she sang in front of everyone, which was fantastic. She can really sing. I said to her, ‘Do you want to do Sound of Music?’ She said ‘yes’. We started planning things.”
Unfortunately for both of them, alleged interventions from the team resulted in her turning down the project as stated by Webber.
“Her people were not pro the idea. It became clear that it wasn’t going to work because the demands became so ridiculous.”
Issues regarding her salary and scheduling conflicts ultimately resulted in her backing out of the project.
Source: Seattle Times and Contact Music