An Interview with Michael Bay and Scarlett Johansson

They’re quite the odd couple. She’s known for classy, quirky, character-driven dramas. He’s known for testosterone and explosions. Since her achingly-good performance in “Lost in Translation,” Scarlett Johansson has emerged as one of Hollywood’s sexiest starlets, both an actor’s actor and a pinup girl.

And him? Michael Bay still hasn’t shaken his image as the “frat boy of directors,” hatching stories with guns, bombs, slo-mo and more bombs. (Like “Pearl Harbor.”) Together, though, they team for a solidly entertaining sci-fi thriller, “The Island,” which marks Scarlett’s first foray into the mainstream and Michael’s first feature without Jerry Bruckheimer. They sat down together to talk with Latino Review about the experience.

Scarlett, why do this sci-fi movie?

Scarlett Johansson: When I got the script it was just really fantastic. It was exciting. It was adventurous. It was fun. Of course, when you’re reading a script that says “slides down a drainpipe” or something, you don’t actually think that’s ever going to really happen until 7:30 in the morning on the say, when Mr. Michael Bay is going, so you just slide down this drainpipe and then we’ll do it again from another angle and again from another angle.” It was a lot of work.

How about playing a character who is so innocent?

Scarlett Johansson: It was delightful. It was really fun. Because as an actor, mentally, you get into the state of everything being so new – children, dogs, people, cars, feeling love and physical intimacy and all of these things being so brand new – and so it manifests itself physically. So you do, you get excited. You feel excited. Ewan and I had a really fun time with that. It was very sweet.

Stem cell research. Class conflict. There’s a good deal of political undercurrent. Were you conscious of that while you were making the film?

Michael Bay: What I really intended was to get the audience to think . . . would you, if you could, have a clone? What I was telling to some other reporters in here earlier is, if there was a facility like this, I’m sure there are enough selfish people in this world that would want to do this. It’s a universal thing. The theme of this movie is we all want to live longer. And how far will you go? It’s not to comment on stem cell research, because we did a lot of study – [inaudible] several stem cell researchers and it’s amazing how they feel they can cure so many diseases. This is just taking cloning in a sci-fi way to the ninth degree. It’s just open to discussion. That’s it.

Michael, you have so much energy. How do you keep your energy levels up?

Michael Bay: Well, I’m just not one of those directors that sits in my trailer. I actually don’t even use my trailer.

Scarlett Johansson: We’re convinced he never goes to the bathroom! It’s unbelievable. He never leaves the set.

Michael Bay: I’m just involved with setting every shot, how we light it – how we’re going to block the extras to everything. Like this thing, this thing’s wilted. We need another one. That’s where I get my creative juices. I arrive to the set probably 45 minutes to an hour after the crew’s been there, because I don’t want to see the crew get their breakfast burritos.

Scarlett Johansson: It’s hard, though. It’s really hard, because some of the days we had are really long. In that case, I always kind of look at Michael and go like, “I can’t do it again! I can’t!” But he was very good about that. He was very sensitive about it in the film. “Just one more! Just one more! I know you can do it.”

Michael Bay: But you sometimes really have to well that energy up. Especially when you’re doing action because to get them in that moment – just for a few seconds is –

Scarlett Johansson: Exhausting.

Michael Bay: If you’re not up and trying to give them as much as you can, you’re not going to get that tension you need. Especially in action stuff.

Scarlett, you seem to be working nonstop. Are you a clone or a robot?

Scarlett Johansson: If I had a clone, I’d have them do the press junket. [Laughs] I don’t know. I like to sleep in, get my eggs benedict, that sort of thing. I’m definitely going to take a nice long much-needed rest after this one. I promised myself that. Because the problem is when I start to relax for a while, I get very anxious and I have to do something. So I’m either going to have to find a different kind of career path or … I don’t know. Go someplace far away, an island where I won’t torture myself about why I’m not working. It’s hard for me to take vacations.

Is anything going to be different about filming in London? Are you worried?

Scarlett Johansson: Of course not. Absolutely not. London is a lovely place to be. It is as safe as anywhere. The show must on. Everybody’s trucking along. We’re shooting in central London this week and will be for the rest of the shoot. I’m staying there. I was here when September 11th happened and it was amazing the unity the people had and how wonderful the police and fire departments were. It was the same in London. They were so fast-acting, it really – that alone is enough to make you feel that everything’s going to be okay. That threat is everywhere we go, so it’s important not to let it change your life.

Michael, this is your first film away from Jerry Bruckheimer and your first film with Dreamworks. Have you seen any difference? How is your relationship with Jerry right now?

Michael Bay: I have no relationship with Jerry, all right? No, actually, I’m very good friends with Jerry and I miss Jerry. But I walked into a studio meeting that I met with five people: Steven Spielberg, Walter Parkes, Laurie, Adam Goodman and Mark Ames, and I walked out of there and I realized, “Oh my God! That’s a studio – they actually make movies!” So many studio heads, they don’t actually understand how to make movies. It’s a more intimate studio. They’re very supportive. They’re pretty much very supportive of making the script right. They gave me a lot of free range, so I really enjoyed it. A very funny story, though. When Steven called me to direct the script, I said, “Okay.” And so word got around town. Jerry called me up. There was like small talk for about 15 minutes. He was at the Super Bowl. I was ready to hang up, so he goes: “So I understand you committed to something.” “No, no. Jerry, I’m just, uh, I’m thinking about it.” He goes, “Well, I just wanted you to know, we passed.” Apparently he ripped his office apart the next Monday. But I’m going to go back to Jerry.

Scarlett Johansson: That’s sweet.

Scarlett, are you surprised at how your career has gone so far? Do you read what is written about you?

Scarlett Johansson: Yeah, it’s totally very surprising. I never had any expectation. I only hoped that in fact when I was younger that I would like to be a working actor forever. But I never realized – I mean, I don’t think you could foresee something like this. When I mean put it like this, this type of success or the fact that Michael could see outside a certain category and say, Oh, well, she’s not a … she’s just a young ingénue thing who does more alternative things. That he could see me in this was very surprising. It was lovely, it was very nice. As an actor, you see yourself in all different kinds of roles. You imagine you can play them, but it’s not always that way – looking at it from the industry point of view.

And the tabloids?

Scarlett Johansson: I really don’t patronize tabloid magazines. So if I ever read what’s written about me, it’s either hearsay or maybe somebody’s faxed me an article or something like that, But I don’t think it really does any good. I never respond to any of those things – true or not true or whatever. I find it’s better to avoid it, because then you don’t have to be corrected in next week’s tabloid. SO you just sort of let it take its own course. Unless it’s horribly and unbelievably untrue.

Michael, do you see this film as a throwback to films like “Logan’s Run?”

Michael Bay: Y’know, there are certain themes that are relatable in this movie to those. I’ve said upstairs, when you see THX you want to shoot yourself. It’s just so prescient. I wanted to make this - at least in the world we called Centerville - more fun and a little bit quirky.

What will we see on the DVD?

Michael Bay: Scarlett naked.

Scarlett Johansson: It’s on the Personal Home Video collection.

Michael Bay: There’s some missing scenes. And literally, I finished the movie 48 hours ago. My head – there’s a lot of chaos in my head right now. I don’t know what missing scenes we’ve got. It’s just how we did certain things. We did a lot of video documentaries on the set, going into more detail and stuff.

Scarlett Johansson: We traveled a lot. We went from Palm Springs to Detroit. We were in Nevada and then California, so there’s a lot of footage of them kind of following us all around. It was fun.

Scarlett, what would your clone do in lieu of the acting career?

Scarlett Johansson: Y’know, I’d just have her do simple household tasks, folding laundry, maybe try on new clothing so I could see what I might look like, pose and that kind of thing. Do the grocery shopping. Change the toilet paper roll. Things I just don’t like to know.

You wouldn’t make her go out and have an alternate career?

Scarlett Johansson: No, I’d just use her for my own selfish ... control.

Who is the one person you turn to for professional advice?

Scarlett Johansson: My mother. My mom has seen every single movie ever made ever. She’s a library of film and unbelievable. She could be a film historian, I swear. She knows a lot about film and she has incredible taste. She also happens to be just absolutely adorable and lovely and caring and liberal and just, y’know, I trust her. I trust her. And she trusts me. So that – it really makes for a nice professional relationship and personal relationship. She wants me to do what makes me happy. That’s all you can hope for, is your parents support and she’s lovely that way.

Scarlett, when will you know when you’ve reached your own personal island?

Scarlett Johansson: I don’t know. I hope to be constantly searching for ultimate satisfaction until the day that I die. But otherwise – gosh, how boring. Y’know, it’s good to feel satisfied, but I never want to stop looking and I never want to stop being curious about things. I think you get to a point where you’re [inaudible] the family and you’re comfortable with that. I never want to be comfortable like that. Not too comfortable, anyway. I’m saying that now, of course, as a 20 year girl. Ask me in another 35 years and I’ll probably tell you that all I want to do is to be comfortable, but … that’s my perspective on it now, anyway.

Michael, do you consider yourself an “actor’s director?”

Michael Bay: Yeah. Totally. I care so much about the acting. Would you say I do?

Scarlett Johansson: Yes, you do. It’s lovely. It’s because he loves the – it’s so funny. He can be so loud and just boisterous and rude and he’s got the explosions going, and he’s – you see him as that. And then he’ll come up to you in the middle of the take and he’ll say, “Hey, you did this really cute thing. I wish that you could do it again.” He’s so excited about it. He’s so excited about finally – towards the end of the shooting, we finally got to the meat of it, and it’s nice to have a director who is so incredible with these effects call the actual drama, the meat of the story. That’s rare. We had a lot of fun with that, because a lot of great, great moments. A lot of private moments between the Lincoln and the Jordan character.

Michael, can you describe the socioeconomic landscape that the movie is set in?

Michael Bay: Well, I mean the whole philosophy was, if this was a military bunker, it’s going to be in – that’s in the desert – you’re going to have people that live out in the desert. They don’t make a lot of money. You’re going to have the people that birth these clones – I mean, it’s like a truck driver, birthing the clone. That just makes it so much more crass. I mean, when we were shooting that scene, it was just so – watching it – just on the set, was so wrong. There’s was something wrong about it. It’s – this facility, the concept was, it’s going to start off – rich people can afford it, and hopefully one day, it’s going to get cheaper. Just like when you buy the DVD recorder. It starts coming down in price, the more you do, if you notice, I had a lot of foreigners there. That old Japanese man, he looks like a guy who runs Tokyo bank. You notice we had a lot of tall guys there, they were over seven feet tall. Like, that’s a basketball player. So, does that answer your question?

What do you think the movie is trying to say?

Scarlett Johansson: I don’t believe movies should deliver messages. I never pick films based on what kind of message you’re delivering. I think when you leave the theatre, you question how far would I go to [inaudible]. But after all, when I come out of a film that I’ve just paid ten dollars to see and spent 15 bucks on popcorn, you know what? I come out of the theatre, after all, and you just want to be entertained? You know what I mean? You just want to say, “That was cool! I had a great time.” [inaudible] for me. I don’t really feel like somebody always needs to deliver the big picture. That can be so preachy and boring, particularly if you find them to be offensively preachy. I just hope that people have a great time when they watch it. It’s a trip.

Michael, how much pressure do you put on yourself to top the action in each of your films?

Michael Bay: With action, I obviously try to keep challenging myself. On this story, I was trying to challenge myself by doing a much slower build for the movie. It was … oh, it just hurt! I’m like, oh I’ve got to do so much in the beginning! I just forcing myself not to, and I drew it out for 30 minutes and then I just love how that switch happens and the movie takes off. But you think, is the audience going to get bored? I mean, y’know, this younger generation, do they want something faster? Hopefully they’re going to like the beginning of this movie. It seems like a lot of the audiences that are seeing it, are enjoying the whole innocence and the lot of subtle subtexts that are going on in the movie. I love when you’re watching the movie, you’re thinking, there’s something wrong here … I can’t quite put my finger on it.

Scarlett Johansson: It’s nice because it’s slowly starts to build to feel like there’s – it gets just like psychologically creepier until it grows and you want to see it hit that point where everything is revealed, and you see Michael and he’s struggling for his life, and it’s so horribly disturbing, so, so, so disturbing, [that] from that moment on, it just doesn’t stop. That’s the ride you take.

“THE ISLAND” HITS THEATERS ON FRIDAY, JULY 22

Questions? Comments? E-mail me at jeff@latinoreview.com.