Ever since her early roles in Ghost World and Lost in Translation, Scarlett Johansson has been a trailblazer within independent cinema, working with leading auteurs such as Jonathan Glazer, Wes Anderson and Sofia Coppola. From the very beginning, she showed herself to be wise beyond her years and with a yearning to be challenged, starring in emotionally complex roles alongside other acting titans and becoming a scene-stealer from a young age.

Her career eventually expanded into franchise filmmaking, becoming known for her role as Black Widow in the Marvel universe, but she also continued to advocate for smaller projects, earning her critical acclaim for roles in Marriage Story and Asteroid City. Despite experiencing success as a teenager and quickly finding her feet in Hollywood, Johansson has described the early role that had the biggest impact on her career and perhaps pointed towards one particular form of filmmaking that she would later be most drawn to and bring her the most success.

There aren’t many actors who speak highly of starting out as children, with many describing the complex relationship this creates with their craft and the normalised exploitation within Hollywood that can sometimes be emotionally damaging and traumatising. Whether it be Jeanette McCurdy or Zendaya, many artists have found success due to their early start in the industry, later forging expansive careers that have exceeded the roles they played as children, becoming a distant memory as they evolve as performers and reach new heights.

However, for the likes of Johansson, her early roles perhaps signified an interest in playing daring and unconventional characters, with each role pointing towards a love for independent filmmaking and collaborating with auteurs who couldn’t be defined by reductive labels or typical Hollywood boxes. When reflecting on her career, she has highlighted the significance of one role that changed the course of her career, describing the impact of The Horse Whisperer and her work with legendary filmmaker Robert Redford, with the experience changing her creative philosophy and approach towards performing.

The film follows a mother who employs a horse trainer to help her severely traumatised daughter get back on the saddle, with Redford playing the role of the horse trainer alongside Kristin Scott Thomas, Sam Neil and Johansson. The film is lesser known for Redford’s body of work, but it made quite an impression on Johansson, who was only sixteen at the time of filming.

When describing this, the actor said: “That film changed things for me in a lot of ways. Certainly as an actor. I went through this realisation that acting, at its heart, is the ability to manipulate your own emotions. I understood then that you can’t think about it. You can’t plan it. You just have to let your emotions flow through you. It’s hard to explain exactly, but I can see that when I watch the film. It’s weird to have that sort of learning process documented.”

To learn such a profound creative lesson at such a young age would surely be crucial to her later success, with an emotional intelligence that exceeded her age. Working with Redford as a teenager undoubtedly influenced her love of indie filmmaking, having an eternal impact on her later career choices as she voices her love for the medium and desire to keep making art that makes people feel something.