Scarlett Johansson to Star in and Executive Produce ‘Just Cause’ TV Series
Her first TV lead role finds her revisiting a film that served as her second movie appearance ever in her career – albeit now leading the story.
(L to R) Grace Edwards as Dinah, Scarlett Johansson as Midge Campbell and Damien Bonnaro as Bodyguard/Driver in writer/director Wes Anderson's 'Asteroid City,' a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features
The lure of hefty-pocketed streaming services and prestige, often limited-run TV series continues to draw big name actors like moths to a flame.
And the latest to flit around the bright lights of the streaming world is Scarlett Johansson, who, according to Deadline, has signed to star in and produce a new series based on 1995 thriller ‘Just Cause’.
If you’re blanking on the movie, it followed fictional Harvard law professor Paul Armstrong (Sean Connery), who is enticed back to the courtroom from the halls of academia by the case of Bobby Earl Ferguson (Blair Underwood).
It’s all to do with the brutal kidnapping, rape and murder in Ochopee, Florida, of eleven-year-old Joanie Shriver (Barbara Jean Kane). Ferguson is arrested by officers Tanny Brown (Laurence Fishburne) and J. T. Wilcox (Christopher Murray), who proceed to beat Bobby into confessing to the murder. Eight years later, Ferguson is on death row manages to contact Armstrong and convinces him to look into the case.
But even as he digs up evidence that could exonerate Bobby and point the finger of suspicion elsewhere, Paul discovers dark truths about the man he’s trying to save… truths that could put his family in danger.
And that family? In the movie, his wife Laurie is played by Kate Capshaw, while his daughter Katie is brought to the screen by one Scarlett Johansson in her second ever movie speaking part. Everything old, as the saying goes, is new again.
Scarlett Johansson in Marvel Studios' 'Black Widow.' Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.
The show is not, however, a continuation of the story, and Johansson will not be playing a now-grown Katie who has long since followed in the legal footsteps of her father.
Instead, Christy Hall, who developed Netflix series ‘I Am Not Okay with This’, has written a new adaptation of John Katzenbach’s novel, the source material for the original movie, albeit still with a change to the main character.
In the 1992 tome, the protagonist is Miami newspaper editorial writer Matt Cowart, a struggling reporter for a Florida newspaper sent to cover the final days of an inmate on death row. With Johansson starring, the role has been switched to Madison “Madi” Cowart.
Johansson will produce via her These Pictures company alongside Warner Bros. TV, while Amazon has snapped up the show for its Prime Video service.
The actor has not been a particular presence on TV outside of some hosting gigs on ‘Saturday Night Live’ and a recurring voice role on stop-motion animated series ‘Robot Chicken’.
She’s still busy with film work, including co-starring with Channing Tatum and producing spaced-themed drama ‘Project Artemis’. And she also recently worked on ‘My Mother’s Wedding’ and Wes Anderson’s next movie, ‘Asteroid City’, which features Margot Robbie, Tom Hanks, Willem Dafoe, Steve Carell, Adrien Brody, Bryan Cranston and more among its sprawling ensemble.
Scarlett Johansson in Marvel Studios' 'Black Widow.' Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.
Just Cause
