In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the situation between The Walt Disney Company and Scarlett Johansson came up. The star being interviewed — Benedict Cumberbatch — was put in a difficult situation given that he is currently employed by Marvel with multiple movies on the horizon. Yet he handled the response deftly, potentially having given other castmates a way of dealing with the complex issue:
“Just the verbiage and the accusations of, ‘Put it in a global pandemic context.’ The whole thing’s just a bit of a mess. We’re trying to understand what the revenue streams should be for artists that contribute to the billion-dollar business that is Disney. And it has to be contractualized. How does an artist’s normal compensation with box office bonuses, how does it work? It’s a new paradigm, and it’s a very complex one. No one saw this coming, and no one should use hindsight to say, ‘Well, it should have been done.’ That was the first of these films that was going to get a cinematic release during the pandemic and got stalled and stalled and stalled. It’s very new territory.” — Benedict Cumberbatch
The situation between Disney and Johannsson has been uncommonly ugly with both sides making strong accusations against he other, often delving into morality. Furthermore, head of Marvel, Kevin Feige, has been said to be extremely uncomfortable with the way Disney has treated Johansson. The strong showing of Marvel’s latest film, Shang-Chi, after being panned prerelease by Disney CEO Bob Chapek, has arguably given Feige stronger leverage within the company.
#ThePoweroftheDog is likely to spark cultural conversations on expressions of gender and sexuality. “Tenderness, surely that’s the answer,” says star Benedict Cumberbatch of parallels between his character’s repressed feelings and those of modern men https://t.co/a1fGRzCXwk pic.twitter.com/87AdmXmGLX
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) September 8, 2021
Until everything settles down legally and monetarily between Disney and Johansson, stars might want to follow the Cumberbatch formula for replies.
