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Scarlett Johansson once watched a Tom Cruise classic three times but she also hated it for a reason

Johansson revealed, “The first time I saw it, I hated it. I had a visceral reaction to it; I hated it so much.”

Scarlett Johansson’s visceral reaction to Tom Cruise’s final Stanley Kubrick movie, ‘Eyes Wide Shut,’ is a story of love, hate, and artistic discovery. The actress, popular for her diverse roles and strong opinions, once had an intense response to the 1999 mystery thriller, revealing how much it affected her in unexpected ways. Johansson’s initial reaction to the movie was far from positive. In an interview, she confessed, “The first time I saw it, I hated it. I had a visceral reaction to it I hated it so much. And then I was like, I have to see that movie again. I hated it so much. And then I loved it. I think in some ways I hated the emotional experience; it’s like a visceral reaction. There’s passion behind it. I can’t ever totally fault a film that I absolutely hate.”

By the time she watched it for the third time, her perspective had shifted dramatically. For her, the emotional experience of the movie was unsettling yet fascinating. Her words highlighted the film’s ability to provoke extreme reactions, a hallmark of director Kubrick’s work. The film’s controversial nature and deep thematic undertones led to Johansson’s fascination. As she noted, mixed reviews and strong audience reactions often indicate high-quality, thought-provoking cinema. She said, “I would way rather fail in someone’s eyes than be that sort of tepid,” expressing her preference for eliciting strong reactions over lukewarm responses, as reported by Fandom Wire.

Her experience mirrors Kubrick’s filmmaking philosophy, as described by Cruise in a 1999 interview with Larry King. Cruise explained, “Kubrick is a guy who gives you the landscape with the least amount of color. He wants the audience to participate. He wants them to imbue almost their own life and poses these questions to them…” Intriguingly, her admiration for Cruise extends beyond the movie.

Moreover, Cruise once expressed his desire to work with Johansson and remarked, “She’s enormously talented and very charismatic. It’d be fun. She could do anything…She’s someone that really draws you in on the screen, on camera. So absolutely, it’s going to happen.” Moreover, her story also highlights her artistic evolution. Known for her daring choices, she’s no stranger to unique and polarizing roles. In ‘Under the Skin,’ she portrayed an alien observing humanity, a performance that was critically acclaimed at the Venice Film Festival, as noted by Animated Times.

Reflecting on that experience, Johansson shared, “I heard Jonathan was making a film and originally it was a very different story. But I met him, and it was very clear that he was struggling to figure out what he was doing with it, and what had attracted him to it…I think we were both interested in that. I thought it would be incredibly challenging to play a character that’s free of judgment, that has no relationship to any emotion I could relate to.”