Scarlett Johansson Talks About Being Turned Down for Black Widow Role at First

Scarlett Johansson wasn’t the original choice to play Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and she’s opening up about losing the role at first.

The 36-year-old actress says that she was “pretty bummed” when she didn’t get the role, but it’s something the “happens all the time.”

Click inside to find out who got the role first and what happened next…

“I was a big fan of the first Iron Man. And I wanted to work with Jon [Favreau] and Robert [Downey Jr.] and then I did not get the role and I was pretty bummed about that, happens all the time,” Scarlett told BBC Radio 1 (via Screen Rant). “Then, I fatefully — several weeks later, the actor who was cast in the role originally was not able to do it because of a scheduling conflict. So, Jon called me and we met again and I said, ‘Yes, I’m extremely available still.’”

“If anybody ever asks me about what advice I have to other actors who are trying to make it I say, ‘Every opportunity is an opportunity to work, and you’ll never get a better call than when you thought you lost a job then got it.’ I was so excited to have a second chance at it,” she added.

The role originally went to Emily Blunt, who turned it down because of her contractual obligation to star in Gulliver’s Travels.

Emily recently cleared up some misconceptions about why she had to turn down Black Widow.

Scarlett recently revealed some sad news about the future of the MCU.