WIDOW OF OPPORTUNITY

WHY SCARLETT JOHANSSON TOOK A HUGE PAY CUT | Marvel superhero usually earns millions per movie but she says chance to work with stellar cast and director Wes Anderson on Asteroid City made it worth her while to settle for a fraction of that

- ANNA BURNSIDE

SCARLETT Johansson is no soft touch when it comes to money. She took Disney to court over a bonus row and went home with $40million.

So you wouldn’t expect one of the world’s best-known actresses to settle for a mere $4131 a week in her latest film, Asteroid City.

It’s hardly breadline – but not what an Oscar winner who is also a Marvel superhero expects to earn.

But Johansson – whose films have pulled in $14.3billion – told how she was happy to take a pay cut in return for two months working with some of her favourite actors.

The romantic comedy, set at a junior astronomy competition in 1955, has Tom Hanks, Tilda Swinton, Matt Dillon and Bryan Cranston among its cast.

Johansson, 38, said: “Every morning you would get up and you would be at the gym and Jeff Goldblum would be up running on the treadmill.

“Then you would go and get your coffee and you would be in line with Willem Dafoe and Adrien Brody. It was incredible.”

The Black Widow star can afford to take a few financial risks and say yes to films that interest her. Having been a child performer, she has already packed more into her 30-year career than others do in a lifetime.

She added: “I was one of those singing, dancing, Broadway-loving, jazz hands kids. I am one of four and I don’t know if performing was maybe my way of getting attention at home. But I just loved performance and all that stuff, so it was innately in there.

“My mom was the one who encouraged me. She said to commit because with four kids she didn’t have time to do it if I didn’t really want to.