First Official Image Of Scarlett Johansson In Jonathan Glazer's 'Under The Skin'

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by Kevin Jagernauth
May 11, 2012 9:23 AM
4 Comments

One film we've been keeping an eye on, and hoping it will pop up somewhere on the 2012 calendar, is Jonathan Glazer's long awaited third film (his first in eight long years) "Under The Skin," starring Scarlett Johansson. On paper, it seems like a straight genre piece or a "Species" remake, with the adaptation of Michael Faber's novel telling the story of a manhunting alien disguised as a sexy woman who preys on human flesh. Well, the good news is two fold. Cineuropa has tweeted that the film is officially in post-production in London after shooting last fall, and they've included the first official image from the movie.

"I think Jonathan [Glazer] would probably say it's a movie about an 'it' that becomes a 'she.' It's kind of impossible to describe," Johansson said about the film in December. "It'd be like trying to describe a Mike Leigh film. It's very abstract in a certain way." As we've said, the pic is less a straight up creature feature and something quite different, with the source material and screenplay delivering a much more nuanced approach that you might expect, which should translate into a creepy, sci-fi-ish psychological horror film.

"It's so weird, I've never been in a movie where the logline of the movie, where the plot has been so twisted. It's crazy. 'Are you eating people on the side of the road?' I'm like, 'No, no!'," Johansson said recently. "OK, yes I do play an alien who is wearing my own skin. But it's actually not a science-fiction film; it's sort of a film that asks existential questions and much more complex than the logline."

Whatever it turns out to be, our ticket is already sold. Glazer is a great filmmaker who has shown with both "Sexy Beast" and "Birth" that he has a fantastic control over mood and tone, and we're eager to see what he does with this somewhat out there premise. No official release dates yet, but a fall festival premiere is looking more and more likely.

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4 Comments

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JD | May 11, 2012 11:32 AMReply

Sounds like Glazer's The (Wo)Man Who Fell to Earth.

Not sure Mike Leigh is the best example of a filmmaker who makes indescribably abstract films, but if this is Mike Leigh meets Nicolas Roeg -- and it has some of the artful playfulness of Sexy Beast, rather than just the heavy-handedness of Birth -- it could be incredible.
II | May 11, 2012 10:15 PM

I dunno, Leigh's films are pretty hard to assign an overriding message or thesis too.
Connor | May 11, 2012 11:21 AMReply

This was shot in Scotland I believe.
gonad | May 11, 2012 10:46 AMReply

Can't wait! Glazer is the man.