The last time they worked together, Scarlett Johansson and director Rupert Sanders made Ghost In The Shell. Their new collaboration could hardly be more different, as it'll tell the fascinating true-life tale of a woman who became a crime kingpin through owning massage parlors and more. And the title will raise more eyebrows than just the story alone: Rub & Tug.
Whether that name survives to cinema marquees is a question for another day, but for now, New Regency is happy to put up the money for Johansson to star and Sanders to direct Gary Spinelli's script. It'll follow the experiences of Jean Marie Gill, a larger-than-life character in 1970s Pittsburgh who took on the mob and ran a chain of illicit massage parlors offering prostitution, plus an anabolic steroid ring that helped power NFL team the Pittsburgh Steelers. And she did it all with the help of her allies in the gay community, often dressing as a man to help her cause. In addition to her criminal activities, the film will also chart her fiery romance with girlfriend Cynthia.
Johansson has been working on Taika Waititi's Jojo Rabbit and will be back as Natasha Romanoff in the next Avengers film, while Marvel also develops a stand-alone film for the character.
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