Scarlett Johansson On Her "Not Glamorous" Lifestyle and We Bought a Zoo

The lion gets up on this rock and he's just like... Collectively, the entire crew was just like, oh, you know, my actual life on the line. A little bit about preparing for this role. Your character is the head zookeeper. She knows everything there is to know about these animals. What kind of homework did you do? I observed at a facility that trains trainers. So, they have hundreds of different species and everybody's there learning how to handle these animals and working with them. And, you know, so subsequently they're feeding them and taking care of them. And the animals are all, you know, living there and everything. And it's like... The amount of work that goes into it is just absolutely mind-blowing. I mean, it's non-stop. And, you know, the feeding times are like all the way from the crack of dawn till, you know, the crack of dawn. Well, which of the animals that you actually worked with on the film were sort of the most awe-inspiring when you came face-to-face? Probably the lion that we worked with. He was just... I think his name was... Actually, he may have been Leo. Interesting. I can't remember. Maybe I'm just making that up. He was unbelievable. I remember one time he came out and, you know, they needed him to, like, kind of be on a specific mark or whatever. And, you know, he's a lion, so it's kind of a bit of a challenge. And, you know, his handlers are trying to get his attention in every kind of way and making noises in whatever ways they know how. And then finally, I'm like, I see, you know, the handlers in there. They're giving the cue to somebody behind us. And back there is a woman on a horse and one of the handlers on a horse and she's leading a zebra around, like, through this foliage, right? To try to... And I'm like, what are they doing with that zebra? And the lion gets up on this rock and he's just like... He was, like, ready to go. Cued right in and everybody, like, collectively, the entire crew was just like, oh, you know. And I was like, that is terrifying. Yeah. His eyeballs just became, like, two little pin marks and it was just like, wow, that he is king. Right. That's his true nature. Yeah, that is his true... You know, meanwhile, right before, he was just kind of like, eh, I don't really want to be here. Sure. Like, I don't want to get on that moment. He was just instantly in it. It was terrifying. Beyond the amazing animals, you work with some amazing actors in this movie, including Matt. I actually had never met Matt before, so it was my first time working with him and we did a bunch of, you know, work together just, like, in a session. What did you, you know, take away from your experience working with him? He has that kind of open-mindedness. I'm sure that he'll be a fantastic director with that same quality. He just has a kind of a warm and a trusting nature about him. It's something that is a... To have a scene partner, just knowing that somebody's always going to kind of catch you, I don't know, it feels very safe that way. Was playing Kelly a little bit of a different or new challenge for you? She's a little bit unlike, I think, what most people think of Scarlett Johansson as being, like, you know what I mean? She's kind of rough around the edges, very much a tomboy. Yeah, a lot of those characteristics are characteristics that I bring to the character. You know, in my actual life, I'm not particularly glamorous. I don't live a very big, grand lifestyle, you know? One of the things that attracted me to this project was the fact that I was playing somebody who wasn't a bridesmaid, never a bride, or, you know, the other woman, or, you know, whatever, looking for a dress to wear to a date. And it was like none of that. I'm playing someone who's very practical and grounded, and it was nice to be able to, like, stand in those boots every day and just look at that suit and be like, yes, I own this. Like, I have a certain kind of quiet dignity.