They sure do make a 'Great' team

Scarlett Johansson and June Squibb on filming during a New York winter, working with Holocaust survivors and the bat mitzvah scene left on the cutting-room floor

- Margy Rochlin

SCARLETT JOHANSSON wasn't on the hunt for a feature film to direct when she was sent "Eleanor the Great," about a 90-something woman who reminded Johansson of her own sparky grandmother. But Tory Kamen's script arrived with a cover letter from Oscar nominee June Squibb.

"I was really interested in what, at this stage, June wanted to star in," she says. "I was compelled to read it because of that."

What Johansson also learned is that Squibb, star of last year's acclaimed caper "Thelma" and the voice of Nostalgia in "Inside Out 2," adds extra gloss to a project and is genre-adaptable. Since "Eleanor," she's wrapped shooting on an indie mockumentary called "The Making of Jesus Diabetes," starring and produced by Bob Odenkirk, and she currently appears in the play "Marjorie Prime," her first on Broadway since "Waitress" in 2018.

Recently, Johansson and Squibb got together via Zoom to discuss lurching process trailers, how Squibb bonded with costar Erin Kellyman (who plays Nina, Eleanor's college-age friend), and the trick to playing a character who tells a whopper at a Holocaust survivors' support group based on her dead best friend's experience.

What does a first-time director plan for Day 1 of a wintertime shoot in New York?