Scarlett Johansson actually picks up strange men in Under the Skin

Since my first post on the erotic thriller Under the Skin - it comes out Friday, April 4th - I've been reading some incredible things about this latest Scarlett Johansson film. Incredible as in unbelievable. Johansson, who plays an alien who drives around Glasgow picking up strange men to glean all pertinent info before she devours them, actually drove around Glasgow picking up strange men. To use a phrase from across the pond, (but maybe not in Scotland, I really don't know) I'm gobsmacked! Take a look at this snippet from Carole Cadwalldr's article about the film for the Guardian, a highly recommended read.

"At what point did Glazer tell you: "Oh yes, by the way, Scarlett, we haven't really got any other actors. We're just going to cruise the streets and find them"? 

"That happened later on. And none of us knew how it was going to work. We toyed with lots of different things like prosthetics, teeth, all kinds of things that would change my face but only slightly, when in fact there was no need to do any of that."

Certainly the star had a security detail posted nearby, but what a bizarre approach, a major star trying to pass herself off as one of us mere mortals. Gadwalldr's piece makes an interesting point about our relationship with Hollywood.

"As a metaphor for alien life, it turns out that the relationship between celebrities and non-celebrities is pretty apt. And you could read the entire film as a parable for the Hollywood star system and the power dynamics of celebrities and their audiences. Johansson's character is literally feeding off poor, stupid mortals like us; but she's also shut out from their – ie our – world, and the tables can turn in an instant. By the end of the film, the hunter has become the hunted."

The film is one of those love it or hate it propositions - the first screenings received an equal amount of cheers and boos. Sticking with The Guardian - the film, like the news giant, is set in Glasgow after all, Mark Kermode called it a "bold, flawed, out there adaptation of Michael Faber's 2000 novel." So intrigued by this, and gentlemen, you may be intrigued as well ... at one point Johansson appears nude in the film. 
Read the Guardian review and watch the trailer. Jonathan Glazer, the director of Birth and Sexy Beast spent almost a decade distilling the novel and making it into this particular movie; will you be watching?