Jamie Lee Curtis says ‘don’t fuck’ with Scarlett Johansson as she defends actress amid lawsuit

Jamie Lee Curtis has defended Scarlett Johansson in her Black Widow trial.

The 62-year-old actress wrote a heavily worded opinion piece for Time Magazine on Wednesday, in which she detailed her thoughts on the starlet’s decision to take legal action against Disney.

Curtis defended the 36-year-old actress for her ‘brilliant response to actual manipulation “by major movie studios, warning readers “Don’t fuck” with the Black Widow actress.

Johansson is suing Disney for breaking contact over his decision to release his Marvel movie in streaming and theaters simultaneously, a move that Scarlet says has cost him millions.

The Freaky Friday star was commissioned to write an article on Scarlett for the 100 Most Influential People of 2021 where she spoke about feeling a ‘kinship’ with the actress, before praising her performance as Black Widow – at which point drew a comparison between the plot of the film and the actual legal situation of Johansson.

“I recently watched his own screen as Black Widow, who takes revenge on a powerful character who manipulates (the emphasis is on the male) women to fight for him.

And then I saw her brilliant response to actual manipulation (same emphasis), when she filed a breach of contract complaint against the studio, alleging that her decision to release the film simultaneously in theaters and streaming has cost substantial losses in earnings.

“Whether it’s as an assassin with a conscience, an actor with an emotional center or, having just given birth to her second child, a fierce mother, the message is clear: don’t fuck with that mother bear”, a- she concluded.

On July 29, Scarlett filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court alleging that Disney had violated its contract by posting Black Widow on their Disney + streaming service.

The film was released simultaneously on the service and in theaters, and she alleged in the lawsuit that since her salary was supposed to be based on the film’s box office numbers, her contract should have been renegotiated to reflect the earnings. streaming.

The simultaneous release that was added resulted in the Marvel movie underperforming at the box office and owed it more than the $ 20 million promised in its original contract.

The film grossed $ 80 million when it opened in theaters in North America and $ 60 million worldwide on Disney +. It grossed $ 367 million worldwide at the box office and an additional $ 125 million from streaming.

Disney responded to the lawsuit saying, “This filing has no basis” and that the simultaneous publication had “significantly improved” its compensation.

“The trial is particularly sad and painful in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Disney has fully lived up to Ms. Johansson’s contract, and furthermore, the release of Black Widow on Disney + with Premier Access has dramatically improved its ability to earn additional compensation on top of the $ 20 million it received as a result. day.”

In August, Disney filed a motion to move the trial to private arbitration, after Johansson’s case also called for a jury trial.

Their lawyer Daniel Petrocelli argued that “Disney had fulfilled its obligation to give the film a wide theatrical release, but nothing in the contract required that the release be exclusive to theaters,” according to Variety.

Her attorney John Berlinski responded that the company responded to the original complaint by launching a “misogynistic attack” and that it “was now trying to cover up its misconduct in confidential arbitration.”

Other celebrities who have supported the actress ‘actions include Elizabeth Olsen of WandaVision who told Vanity Fair in August: “I think she is so tough and literally when I read I was like’ fine. for you Scarlett “.

Marvel Universe actor Benedict Cumberbatch called it “a bit of a mess,” during a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter on September 8.

“This is all just a bit of a mess. We’re trying to figure out what the sources of income should be for the artists who contribute to the billion dollar business that is Disney. And it must be contractualized.