Johansson, 28, has already proved she has the acting chops for Broadway, having won a best featured actress Tony Award in 2010 in Arthur Miller's “A View From the Bridge” opposite Liev Schreiber.
It was a victory from a stage novice that silenced critics who had moaned about movie stars with dubious skills showing up in Times Square simply to sell tickets. Johansson insist she had nothing to prove.
“I'm just happy the stage door is still open and I can walk through it,” she says. “I was just happy to survive the run, really. Honestly. I expected to be lambasted. I knew that was a possibility going into it. But that's OK.”
She has thrown herself into her new role, seeing Maggie as “a force of nature” and having “an almost divine determination.” Ashford says Johansson came into rehearsal the first day already having memorized her lines, impressing her co-stars.
“She loves the work, she loves creating the characters,” he says. “She's an actress. She's not a theater star or a movie star. She's an actor first and so she's both, therefore. She can do both, as she's proven.”
Johansson has avoided as best she can seeing other actresses play Maggie, although she was in the audience to see Judd portray her opposite Jason Patric in 2003.
