Actor Elizabeth Olsen has praised fellow Marvel star Scarlett Johansson, who recently filed a lawsuit against Disney over the simultaneous theatrical and OTT release of Black Widow.
During an interaction with Vanity Fair, Olsen, who essays the role of Wanda Maximoff in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, expressed her admiration for Johansson. “I think she’s so tough,” she said.
Johansson sued Disney alleging breach of contract after the simultaneous release of Black Widow in theatres and on Disney+ on July 9. The actor said her agreement with Disney-owned Marvel Entertainment came with the guarantee that the film would have an exclusive theatrical release, with the box-office performance determining her salary, and the film’s hybrid release was an intentional breach of the agreement in order to prevent her from realising “the full benefit of her bargain with Marvel.”
Olsen, who last appeared on Marvel’s spin-off show on Disney+ WandaVision, is the first from the Marvel superhero team to speak on the issue. The actor said that when she first read the news about the lawsuit, her reaction was, “good for you Scarlett.”
She added that “when it comes to actors and their earnings, I mean, that’s just, that’s just all contracts. So it’s either in the contract or it’s not.”
Jason Sudeikis, who wrote, directed, and featured in the Apple TV+ show Ted Lasso, was a part of the interaction as well. He said Johansson’s move was “appropriately bad-ass and on brand.”
Disney, which had earlier termed the suit “sad and distressing,” and called out Johansson for her “callous disregard” of the Covid-19 situation, filed for a stay on Johansson’s lawsuit on Saturday and moved for confidential arbitration.
In the petition, the media giant called the suit a stunt to “generate publicity through public filing,” and noted that the actor excluded Marvel from the lawsuit and instead only named the Walt Disney company.
Disney also said the decision to go with a hybrid release for the film was made taking into account the looming pandemic situation across the globe and the multiple times that the film’s release had been delayed. It further claimed that Marvel had discussed the hybrid-release decision with Johansson in Spring 2021 and both parties had unanimously agreed to the release date as well as the model.
As per THR, Johansson’s attorney said Disney’s move was an attempt at “trying to hide its misconduct in a confidential arbitration.”
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“Why is Disney so afraid of litigating this case in public? Because it knows that Marvel’s promises to give Black Widow a typical theatrical release ‘like its other films’ had everything to do with guaranteeing that Disney wouldn’t cannibalize box office receipts in order to boost Disney+ subscriptions. Yet that is exactly what happened – and we look forward to presenting the overwhelming evidence that proves it,” he added.
While organisations like Time’s Up, ReFrame, and SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild- American Federation of Television and Radio Artists), called out Disney for its “gendered attack” on Johansson, not many industry members have vocalized their support for her.
Actor Alec Baldwin was one of the few to at least tangentially express support for Johansson. He took to Twitter on July 31 and wrote, “#TeamScarlett” without expanding on it.