Scarlett Johansson Isn’t Bitter Over Disney Legal Battle But …
By Movieguide® Contributor
Scarlett Johansson isn’t bitter over her legal battle with Disney, who streamed BLACK WIDOW on Disney+ in the pandemic July 2021 instead of theaters as Johansson’s contract stipulated, but she isn’t happy with tech company OpenAI.
“I don’t hold a grudge,” Johansson said. “I think it was just poor judgment and poor leadership at that time. It just felt very unprofessional to me, the entire ordeal. And honestly, I was incredibly disappointed, especially because I was holding out hope until, finally, my team was like, ‘You have to act.’”
They settled the lawsuit in fall 2021. Movieguide® reported at the time:
The two parties released a joint statement which states that they will continue to work together on future projects despite their legal battle.
“I am happy to have resolved our differences with Disney,” Johansson said. “I’m incredibly proud of the work we’ve done together over the years and have greatly enjoyed my creative relationship with the team. I look forward to continuing our collaboration.”
Disney’s original response to the lawsuit cited Johansson’s $20 million salary for the movie and said she had a disregard for the pandemic and its consequences.
“Johansson previously told Variety that she was ‘mostly sad’ over the legal fight with Disney, adding: ‘It was such a surreal moment because we were all isolated and just sort of emerging a little bit. I was also really heavily pregnant, too, which in a weird way was amazing timing. Suddenly, your entire attention is drawn to this miracle of life. So, I had the most wonderful distraction in the world and soon after had a beautiful baby,'” she said, per Variety.
While Johannson is over her Disney tangle, she isn’t pleased with tech company OpenAI.
“The two were at the center of a public dispute this May after OpenAI seemingly mimicked Johansson for the voice of its ChatGPT voice Sky in an ode to the actor’s voice role in the film ‘Her,’” Variety said. “OpenAI pulled the voice amid backlash but maintained that ‘Sky’s voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice.’”
Johansson said she was “shocked” and “angered” that OpenAI copied her voice, as she declined to voice its chat system.
Her legal team has contacted the company to remove the voice.
“OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reached out to her in September 2023 about the company hiring her to provide the voice for ChatGPT 4.0,” Variety said. “She declined for ‘personal reasons,’ but Altman allegedly contacted her agent and ‘asked me to reconsider. Before we could connect, the system was out there.’”
Johannson said she “actively avoided being a part of the [AI] conversation, which was what made it so disturbing. I was like, ‘How did I get wrapped up in this?’ It was crazy. I was so angry.”
“I felt I did not want to be at the forefront of that,” Johansson said about the OpenAI voice. “I just felt it went against my core values. I don’t like to kiss and tell. He came to me with this and I didn’t tell anybody except my husband.”
“I also felt for my children it would be strange. I try to be mindful of them,” she added.
Variety asked her if Altman would make for a good Marvel villain.
“I guess he would — maybe with a robotic arm,” she said.
The actress likens the world of AI to “wormholes.”
“Once you try to take something down in one area, it pops up somewhere else. There are other countries that have different legislation and rules. If your ex-partner is putting out revenge, deepfake porn, your whole life can be completely ruined,” she said.
“I think technologies move faster than our fragile human egos can process it,” she said, “and you see the effects all over, especially with young people. This technology is coming like a thousand-foot wave.”
Other actors have been upset that their voices or likenesses have been imitated through AI.
Tom Hanks spread awareness about a deepfake video of himself advertising a dental plan.
“BEWARE!! There’s a video out there promoting some dental plan with an AI version of me. I have nothing to do with it,” he shared on Instagram.
“We saw this coming. We saw that there was going to be this ability to take zeros and ones inside a computer and turn it into a face and a character. Now that has only grown a billionfold since then, and we see it everywhere,” he said.
CBS anchor Gayle King had a similar thing happen when she saw a video of what looked to be herself advertising a weight loss program.
She said she had “NOTHING to do with this company.”
The Rolling Stone reported on Sunday that despite the flack against AI in the wake of the SAG-AFTRA strikes, companies are still pushing to use AI, with several like Warner Bros. pressuring actors into signing away their “employment-based digital replica” to be used in projects.
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