Cannes flashback: Scarlet Johansson scored a Croisette debut with ‘Match Point’

It’s somewhat surprising that Scarlett Johansson made films for over a decade before walking the Cannes Film Festival red carpet for the first time. Match pointsher first collaboration with Woody Allen, attracted her to the Croisette in 2005.

Johansson took the lead role in the psychological thriller after Kate Winslet withdrew. She starred opposite Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who plays a tennis pro in an affair with Chloe (Emily Mortimer) when he develops feelings for actress Nora (Johansson), who is engaged to his friend (Matthew Goode), who is also Chloe’s brother. DAYAllen’s review noted that Allen’s film marked “the most amazing start to his film career”, despite his resume including such serious films as 1989’s Crimes and crimes. Ultimately, wrote critic Kirk Honeycutt, the film’s distinct lack of comedic punchlines hindered character development: “Encounter Point it’s a story designed more to prove a philosophical point than to examine a social setting or a particular cast of characters.

After screening out of competition at Cannes, DreamWorks snapped up the title and presented it with an award in late December 2005, a strategy that earned the film four Golden Globe nominations, including Best Supporting Actress for Johansson, and an Oscar nomination for Allen’s taut screenplay. The director would continue to cast her News in advance (2006) and Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), the latter also debuted out of competition at Cannes.

Although Johansson was not present for the Vicky premiere, his presence will be felt again at the festival with that of Wes Anderson City of Asteroids, which counts the actress as part of a star-studded ensemble cast that also includes Tom Hanks, Jason Schwartzman and Jeffrey Wright. A competition premiere, the film about the hustle and bustle surrounding a youth stargazing convention held in a small desert town in the 1950s will be released in the United States by Focus Features on June 16.