Scarlett Johansson Says She Faced Pressure to Cut Holocaust Storyline from Directing Debut

Scarlett Johansson revealed that her feature directing debut, Eleanor the Great, nearly collapsed during pre-production after a financial backer demanded that all Holocaust-related elements be removed from the film’s plot.

The story, starring June Squibb as an elderly Jewish widow who accidentally joins a Holocaust survivors’ group and pretends to be a survivor, centers on a moral crisis Johansson believed was essential to the narrative.

When the backer threatened to withdraw unless references were removed, Johansson refused, arguing that the film had to confront “the worst lie imaginable.”

The investor pulled out, leaving the film without full funding until Sony Pictures Classics stepped in at the last moment, allowing production to go ahead unchanged.