Scarlett Johansson Thugs Out In Your First Look At Lucy
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Man, Scarlett Johansson is really busy these days. Last year, she provided the voice for the OS in Spike Jonze’s Academy Award-winning cautionary tale Her. She’s starring in Jonathan Glazer’s visually hypnotic Under The Skin and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which both come out next week, and at the same time, she’s shooting Marvel’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Johansson is also set to star in Jon Favreau’s Chef later this year, and while the 29-year-old actress has a lot of good genre movies on the horizon, she’s due to star in one more just before the end of the year, Luc Besson’s Lucy.
Johansson stars as the titular character. Slated for release this August, the new film returns the French director back to the science fiction genre since the film The Fifth Element in 1997. Entertainment Weekly has a first look at Johansson as Lucy, who looks totally badass with a gun. Johansson traded in Black Widow’s red hair for a blonde look as an amped up femme fatale. While we don’t know the context of this image, she certainly looks like she means business and is ready to kick a whole lot of ass.
The story follows a woman living in Taipei, Taiwan, who works as a drug mule. But the drugs she inadvertently takes turns her into a superhuman with exciting new telekinetic powers, the ability to absorb knowledge, and the inability to feel pain. While it’s unclear who gave her these drugs or what her mission will be once the action kicks in, Lucy looks and sounds like it will be a big ball of fiery fun. From the descripiton, the film seems like a mix between The Matrix and Neil Burger’s Limitless. Besson said, “I love to see a woman as a very strong character…It’s like cooking: sugar with a bit of salt, and Lucy definitely can get salty.”
Besson has a pretty good track record with delivering action movie with female protagonists. Movies like Léon: The Professional, The Fifth Element, and La Femme Nikita come to mind, while the French filmmaker has a knack for having a hand in pulpy genre movies like District 13, The Transporter, and Lockout. Lucy seems to fit Besson’s sensibilities just fine.
Universal Pictures has the first trailer scheduled for release on iTunes on April 2. It’s a fitting release date when you consider that Johansson also has Under The Skin and Captain America: The Winter Soldier coming out a few days later on April 4. We’ll get a better idea about the new movie once we actually watch the trailer. I have a feeling that Lucy will be much likeBesson’s other films, which are exciting and thrilling.
The new movie also stars Morgan Freeman, Choi Min-sik, Analeigh Tipton, Amr Waked, Pilou Asbaek, and Lee Chun, who is apparently Ang Lee’s son. Lucy opens in theaters everywhere on August 8.
