Jonathan Bailey and Scarlett Johansson have been making headlines throughout the “Jurassic World Rebirth” press tour for their BFF behavior. It is not surprising, then, to learn that Bailey believed Johansson was pivotal in maintaining a jovial tone on the blockbuster’s set. From almost the beginning, Bailey told People, he could tell “it was going to be a knockout summer” on the shoot.
“[Johansson’s] super funny, intelligent, kind. She led the film with such incredible energy, and that’s on and off camera,” he explained.
Principal photography involved numerous complicated sequences, exotic Thailand locales, and several major setbacks, but was expected to be delivered in record time, all of which Johansson said helped with the cast’s unique bond.
“We all laughed a lot, and we were thrown into such extraordinary circumstances physically,” she said. “Half our set would wash away, and then 10 minutes later it would grow too large, and there’s no continuity to anything because the sun was moving in. It was just insane.”
Johansson and Bailey were popular with their cast mates, as well. In an interview with Variety, film co-star Manuel Garcia-Rulfo praised both performers, saying of Bailey, “I can see why everybody goes crazy with the the guy. He’s not just an incredible actor, but he’s a hot motherfucker.”
Gracia-Rulfo described Johansson as the group leader, organizing dinners and off-day trips. But he added she’s “unaware of who she is.” “I tell her, ‘You know you’re Scarlett Johansson?’ She goes in the world like, ‘La, la, la,’ and that’s so beautiful,” he said.
Johansson was obsessed with the franchise long before she got cast in “Jurassic World Rebirth,” which fed into her own passion for the production.
“I think as a huge fan, I’m just excited for ‘Jurassic’ nerds to see it because I think they’ll like it a lot,” she said. “And I hope that there are other 10-year-olds that have the same experience that I did when I saw the first ‘Jurassic’ in theaters, where they can just be completely carried away for two hours. It makes you dream.”
For Johansson, the film was a dream fulfilled. “I’ve been trying to get into a ‘Jurassic’ movie for, I don’t know, 15 years or something,” she said in an interview with THR. “I was so stoked that it all came together.”