Scarlett Johansson asked to be removed as an executive producer on Marvel’s ‘Thunderbolts*’
Jay Maidment
Scarlett Johansson wants it known she had no involvement with the latest Marvel movie.
During a conversation with her Black Widow co-star David Harbour for Interview magazine, Johansson was congratulated for being an executive producer on the film Thunderbolts*. Harbour told her it made sense because her character, Natasha Romanoff, was “all over this movie” in spirit.
“I asked to have my credit removed because I wasn’t involved,” Johansson said.
“You hated the movie that much?” Harbour responded, with a laugh, before Johansson said: “No, you’re just wanting that to be the case.”
Natasha Romanoff died in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, though Johansson last appeared as the character in Black Widow, which debuted in 2021.
“I think you’d be proud of us,” Harbour said of Thunderbolts*, to which Johansson said, “I am proud of you.”
Johansson also talked about the long-term time commitment that comes with being part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“Some of the films that I did for Marvel engaged my character more than others. Like in [Captain America: The] Winter Soldier with Chris [Evans], we were really dynamic,” Johansson said. “In some of the other films, the cast was so enormous and there was so much plot to serve that you start to feel like you’re a device to move it along.”
She went on to say that a five-month time commitment is significant.
“It’s like, ‘Okay. I can’t paint my nails, I can’t get a haircut,'” Johansson said. “These sound like silly problems, but your identity is wrapped up in this job for a long time, and if you’re not doing engaging work as an actor, you feel a little cagey sometimes.”
A man crashed his vehicle through the gates of actress Jennifer Aniston‘s Los Angeles home on Monday, police sources confirmed to ABC News.
The Friends star was home at the time, police sources said.
Private security at the Bel Air home detained the driver, who is currently in LAPD custody, sources close to the investigation told ABC News. He will be booked Monday night for felony vandalism due to the damage, the sources said.
The incident does not appear to have been an accident, though there is also nothing to indicate yet that the driver was targeting Aniston, the sources said. The LAPD’s Threat Management Unit, which has handled cases involving Aniston before, is going to handle the case out of an abundance of caution, the sources said.
The suspect, who has a minor criminal history, was not actively being investigated for anything involving Aniston before the incident, the sources said.
Investigators are currently looking into the suspect’s background and social media, the sources said.
Aniston’s representatives declined to comment on the incident.
Law enforcement sources told ABC News this incident highlights the need for celebrities and high-profile types to be prudent and take measures to have high-level, on-site security.
The trailer for the I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel has arrived.
Sony Pictures released the official trailer for the horror film on Tuesday. Madelyn Cline stars with some familiar faces in the movie, which comes to theaters on July 18.
Releasing over 25 years after the original film, this movie’s plot follows a deadly car accident that causes five friends to cover up their involvement. They make a pact to keep it all a secret.
“A year later, their past comes back to haunt them and they’re forced to confront a horrifying truth: someone knows what they did last summer…and is hell-bent on revenge,” according to the film’s official synopsis. “As one by one the friends are stalked by a killer, they discover this has happened before, and they turn to two survivors of the legendary Southport Massacre of 1997 for help.”
That’s right — joining the new crew are members of the 1997 film’s original cast, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt. The trailer also shows a photo of Sarah Michelle Gellar‘s Helen Shivers through a quick shot of her gravesite.
Along with Cline, the new group of teenagers in this film includes Chase Sui Wonders, Sarah Pidgeon, Tyriq Withers and JonahHauer-King.
“I just have one question,” Hewitt’s Julie James says to Cline in the trailer. “What did you do last summer?”
Lola Tung and Nicholas Alexander Chavez also star in the film.
Jennifer Kaytin Robinson directs the new I Know What You Did Last Summer from a screenplay she and Sam Lansky wrote based on a story by Robinson and Leah McKendrick.
Tyler Perry is being sued for $260 million over sexual assault claims, which he has denied.
A lawsuit was filed against the actor and filmmaker on Friday, June 13, by Derek Dixon, who plays the character, Dale, in Perry’s show, The Oval.
In the complaint, Dixon alleges “a sustained pattern of workplace sexual harassment, assault, and retaliation perpetrated by Tyler Perry” and is suing the filmmaker for alleged quid pro quo sexual harassment, work environment harassment and more.
The lawsuit alleges Perry promised Dixon “career advancement and creative opportunities,” only to “subject him to escalating sexual harassment, assault and battery, and professional retaliation when Mr. Dixon did not reciprocate Mr. Perry’s unwanted advances.”
According to the lawsuit, Dixon and Perry met in 2019 while Dixon worked for an event company that was hired to plan the opening party for Tyler Perry Studios. Dixon claims he was assigned a role at the party that “required frequent conversation with Tyler Perry.” According to the lawsuit, the Madea filmmaker and Dixon exchanged phone numbers at the end of the party and Perry began asking the then-aspiring actor about his goals.
The lawsuit states that Perry cast Dixon in his show, Ruthless, and began sending Dixon “strange and untowardly” messages.
In January 2020, the lawsuit alleges Perry invited Dixon to his home in Douglasville County, Georgia, where they drank alcoholic drinks and had “friendly” conversation.
The lawsuit continues that at the end of the night, Perry told Dixon not to drive home and offered Dixon the guest room in his home. The lawsuit alleges Perry assaulted Dixon that night.
According to the lawsuit, following the assault, Dixon tried to ignore Perry’s calls or texts, which became more aggressive “until finally Perry offered Dixon a part in a new show called The Oval.” According to the lawsuit, Dixon “put up” with Perry’s comments due to fear over his role in the show being cut.
“Dixon immediately understood that his job security depended on his ‘relationship’ with Perry,” the lawsuit states. “From this point on, Dixon worked with the constant fear of losing his job if he did not engage with and endure Perry’s sexual harassment.”
Things allegedly escalated between Dixon and Perry after they filmed the episode where Dixon’s character was shot four times, “indicating a seeming end to his role on the show and his termination from the job.”
Perry had invited Dixon to his trailer for drinks. The lawsuit states that after he asked Dixon if he was attracted to him and other inappropriate questions, Perry allegedly assaulted Dixon when he was about to leave the trailer.
“As soon as Derek Dixon left the trailer following Perry’s violent assault, Dixon became severely nauseous and extremely anxious about his job, careers and livelihood,” the lawsuit states.
Another incident took place on Perry’s private island in the Bahamas, where the cast was having a party, the lawsuit alleges.
By December 2020, Dixon began “feeling depleted” due to Perry’s “continued pattern of sexual harassment,” according to the lawsuit. “The assaults and harassment began manifesting in his physical health and Mr. Dixon had no one to turn to.”
The complaint alleges that as the sexual harassment continued through the beginning of 2021, Dixon was prescribed an antidepressant for the stress he began experiencing.
In June 2021, Dixon claimed he was invited by Perry to his house again to discuss the pilot for Dixon’s show, Losing It. At the meeting, Dixon alleges he was sexually assaulted again.
Dixon decided to move to Santa Monica, California, in or around January 2023, allegedly “to put some distance between himself and Perry.” But the lawsuit states that the “quid pro quo harassment and attempts to cover up the sexual assault by promising a show continued.” After dangling the promise of producing Dixon’s show multiple times, Dixon realized in 2024 that Perry was doing so in an effort to prevent Dixon “from exposing the dark side of Tyler Perry,” the suit claims.
When reached for comment, attorneys for Dixon told ABC, “At this point Mr. Dixon has no comment. We believe the complaint speaks for itself.”
In response to the lawsuit, Matthew Boyd, an attorney for Perry and TPS Production Services, LLC, said, “This is an individual who got close to Tyler Perry for what now appears to be nothing more than setting up a scam. But Tyler will not be shaken down and we are confident these fabricated claims of harassment will fail.”
Good Morning America has reached out to BET for comment.
