Scarlett Johansson Starring in ‘Featherwood’

Scarlett Johansson stars in ‘Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City.’

Preview:

Scarlett Johansson will lead new true-crime thriller ‘Featherwood’.
Andrea Arnold is directing.
The movie is based on an award-winning, six-part news article.

Scarlett Johansson has played a few real-life people in her movie career; you might recall her Janet Leigh in 2012’s ‘Hitchcock’ or as Mary Boleyn in 2008’s ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’.

She’s now found a compelling true-life character to play for a new movie called ‘Featherwood’ that sounds like it’ll be a challenge for any actor.

What’s the story of ‘Featherwood’?

Scarlett Johansson in Marvel Studios' 'Black Widow.'

Johansson would play Carol Blevins, a heroin addict and “Aryan Princess featherwood” (property of a gang member) who became one of the FBI’s most important informants during an epic, six-year investigation into the murderous, neo-Nazi crime and drug syndicate known as the Aryan Brotherhood Of Texas.

Blevins, who lived with the gang, memorized details, pre-empted murders and interrupted robberies, helped convict 13 members of the group. However, her harrowing journey left her with significant physical and mental scars and she lives under constant threat of reprisal by the Brotherhood.

The script for the new movie comes from Ned Benson, who previously wrote and directed ‘The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby’, which starred James McAvoy and Jessica Chastain. But a more recent job brought him into Johansson’s orbit, as he worked on the story for Marvel’s ‘Black Widow’.

According to Deadline, Benson drew from an award-winning, six-part Dallas Morning News article by Pulitzer Prize finalist Scott Farwell.

Who is making ‘Featherwood’?

Sasha Lane in ‘American Honey.’ Photo: A24.

Andrea Arnold is aboard to direct the new movie. Arnold is the British filmmaker best known for the indie likes of ‘Fish Tank’, ‘Red Road’ and ‘American Honey’ and her naturalistic style feels like a good fit for Blevins’ story.

More recently, Arnold directed a documentary about the life of a cow called, well, ‘Cow’ and is currently in post-production on a new drama called ‘Bird’ that stars Barry Keoghan.

What is next for Scarlett Johansson?

Grace Edwards as Dinah, Scarlett Johansson as Midge Campbell and Damien Bonnaro as Bodyguard/Driver in writer/director Wes Anderson's 'Asteroid City,' a Focus Features release.

(L to R) Grace Edwards as Dinah, Scarlett Johansson as Midge Campbell and Damien Bonnaro as Bodyguard/Driver in writer/director Wes Anderson’s ‘Asteroid City,’ a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features

Most recently seen in Wes Anderson’s ‘Asteroid City’, Johansson has a couple of films headed to screens.

She’s leading an untitled romantic comedy alongside Channing Tatum, which was directed by Greg Berlanti, and has contributed the voice of Elita to ‘Transformers’ animated prequel movie ‘Transformers One’, due in theaters on September 13th.

The actress is also one of the interviewees for new documentary ‘Broadway: The Next Generation’.

When will ‘Featherwood’ be in theaters?

‘Featherwood’ has yet to lock down a distribution deal, so it doesn’t have a release date as of yet. But if it works out, we could certainly see it finding a slot come awards time.