Scarlett Johansson made her directorial debut at the Cannes Film Festival with the drama Eleanor The Great.
The feature-length project was produced together with Justin Baldoni‘s Wayfarer Studios but the It Ends with Us actor and director, who is in a legal battle with Blake Lively, wasn’t among the attendees.
Instead, Johansson was joined by her husband, comedian Colin Jost, who looked lovingly and proudly at the actress as she addressed the audience inside Debussy Theatre on Tuesday.
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The 40-year-old called it “really a dream come true” to be making her directorial debut at the famed French film festival, having spent a number of years living in Paris with her ex-husband, French journalist Romain Dauriac.
“When you make a film that’s an independent film like this, no one’s doing it for the money — surprise, surprise,” Johansson said, according to Variety.
“Really, everyone that came together for this film came together because they loved the story, the script so much.
“It’s a film about many things: it’s about friendship, it’s about grief, it’s about forgiveness. And I think those are all themes that we can use a lot more of these days.”
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When the Black Widow star got back to her seat, the celebrity couple shared a kiss.
The movie stars acting legend June Squibb, 95, who was in attendance as well as Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy star Chiwetel Ejiofor and Breaking Bad‘s Jessica Hecht.
Johansson called Squibb “truly inspiring” in the title role of Eleanor Morgenstern.
The movie tells the story of a 94-year-old retiree who, after the sudden loss of her lifelong best friend, moves from Florida to live with her daughter in New York, where she befriends a 19-year-old student.
It’s been 12 years since Squibb’s last appearance at Cannes, where she was a part of Alexander Payne’s 2013 film Nebraska, a role which earned her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination.
Two-time Oscar-winner Adrien Brody and his partner, Georgina Chapman, were among those in the audience and were seen talking to Jost while Johansson spoke with movie industry execs.
The movie scored a five-minute standing ovation but has had mixed reviews from critics.
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ScarJo, as she’s affectionately known, has been on double duty in Cannes, having premiered her new Wes Anderson film The Phoenician Scheme earlier this week.
Her trip to France came just days after making Saturday Night Live (SNL) history by becoming the first woman to host the show for the seventh time.
One of the skits involved teaming up with her husband, who co-hosts SNL’s Weekend Update with comedian Michael Che, to get revenge on Che for a rude joke he wrote at her expense last year.
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