Scarlett Johansson's Ultimate Vacation

We aren't sure where gorgeous star Scarlett Johansson would go on a personal get-away with or without fiance Ryan Reynolds but, for her current film Vicky Cristina Barcelona, it was off to Spain to be directed by her mentor, the legendary filmmaker Woody Allen. The versatile Scarlett, still in her early 20's, has come a long way since starring in The Horse Whisperer as a 13-year-old. She's dabbled in music with her retro tribute album "Anywhere I Lay My Head" and has "grown up" to costar with almost every hot hunk in Hollywood, including Wolverine hottie Hugh Jackman, Eric Bana, Christian Bale, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Josh Hartnett...we could go on and on.

In "Vicky Cristina", Scarlett plays the free spirit Cristina, on vakay in Barcelona with more conservative college pal Vicky (Rebecca Hall.. the girls were both in The Prestige). When a handsome Spanish artist (hot Javier Bardem) suggests that the three go sightseeing and of course end the day with a hook-up, Cristina is intrigued but Vicky is just grossed out. Of course many complications ensue.

When we sat down with the casually-dressed Scarlett in Beverly Hills recently, we had to note her huge solitaire engagement ring which was just about her only jewelry for the day. Her black and beige abstract print dress over black tights was very fun as were her tan gladiator sandals. The friendly actress has a habit of picking up her long hair and placing it atop her head while she speaks. Without the trademark "magazine ad" make-up, she's not the siren you would expect, but more like a very pretty gal-pal you are meeting for lunch on a weekend.

So, let's dish about working with Woody, being in a movie love quadrangle with Rebecca, Javier and Penelope Cruz (chill... the movie is still PG-13) and what it's like for her to hang with her best female friends who may or may not share every interest with her. It's a great gal to gal chat.....

TeenHollywood: Have you ever found that you've gone on a trip with a female pal who just wants to do the total opposite of what you do? And how do you handle that with a BFF when your interest in men or anything, is totally opposite.

Scarlett: Humm, it's funny because obviously I'm lucky I have a couple of really good very close girlfriends. Our interests are similar obviously which is why we're friends. They're not actors but we have a certain aesthetic, or things we like to do. But, when it comes to men, you know, you're going to differ from another woman (laughter) right? Differ in what she likes, and what she's into and how you feel about her boyfriend and how she feels about your boyfriend. But, it's great to be able to be close with a girl so that you could both talk with about these things and get some relief, and another woman's perspective.

TeenHollywood: But, you've never been in an awkward situation anything like in this film; on vacation with a friend?

Scarlett: I've never been in such a specific situation where I was on a vacation, and like one girl wanted to go guy crazy (laughter) and I was like left in the hotel, you know (laughter)? I mean I've never, fortunately, been stuck in that kind of position. With most of my girlfriends, we're pretty solid. We go away together because we want to see each other. But I think in this particular circumstance, in the film, the two characters are in different places in their lives. They're very close friends but the one character is engaged to be married and she's kind of taken a more conservative route and maybe she wasn't quite like that in college. My character's still wandering and aimless and has not quite figured out what she wants. Friends grow apart and I think that for this summer certainly they do. They're different and they're probably different when they come home.

TeenHollywood: Woody Allen does create these really extraordinary female characters and you've played several now. What is working with him like?

Scarlett: The best thing about working with Woody other than just getting to spend every day chatting with him and bothering him and poking him and stuff like that, (laughter)...

TeenHollywood: Poking him?

Scarlett: (laughs) Sure why not? Got to make sure he's still, like, awake! (laughter) But he writes such fantastic female roles, and the most exciting part about reading the script is getting to see what we are all going to be doing next and he has such an appreciation and understanding for the intricacies of the female mind; I mean such an appreciation. I think he would say that we're a superior species or something. He really, he loves women; the way we think, and it's always some inspired character.

TeenHollywood: Can you identify with your Cristina character?

Scarlett: I think that I can identify with certain aspects of her philosophy; her sort of Seize The Day attitude and her willingness to let life happen in front of her, and just take a chance and live, live, live, that kind of attitude, I think that I can certainly appreciate that part of her philosophy but you know, we have our differences as well.

TeenHollywood: Woody Allen is known for his witty, amazing dialogue. So, do you dare change it on set by ad-libbing?

Scarlett: I usually stick to the script but Woody would say, 'I don't know, just make it your own'. Every single actor that worked on this, like before our first day, came up to me and they said, 'how married to the dialogue is he?' (She laughs). Penelope and Javier, I think they were a little worried about it, because it's so nuanced and I said, 'no, you'll see'. I felt like the old shoe you know. But, of course you keep the idea and his writing's so brilliant, there's not much that you want to [change]. You want to keep it.

TeenHollywood: In some of the big argument scenes, Javier and Penelope just go off into Spanish. Did you understand what they were saying?

Scarlett: Not really, no. I mean I didn't really want to know (she laughs). I could understand a couple of the words they were saying and I was like, 'oooo, that sounds bad' (laughter). I think certainly my character was kind of in a similar situation; kind of picking up a couple words. I think she just feels a little bit out of the loop.

TeenHollywood: Do you feel like you are Woody Allen's "muse" or just a part of his rep company of actors?

Scarlett: I think that might be more accurate [rep company], yeah. I don't think that Woody sits at home with like a carton of Lo Mein, and a typewriter thinking like 'what is Scarlett doing now (laughter) and how can her life sort of inspire this tale?' Certainly not. I always just feel lucky to be employed and so for me it's such a high compliment for him to see me in any role or imagine me doing anything as an actor. To finally have worked with him now three times, it's really been a dream come true for me.

TeenHollywood: There are some pretty hot, yet PG-13 love scenes in this film. You, Javier and even Penelope get pretty close. Can you talk about that?

Scarlett: It's funny because people are so conservative. These characters fall in love and people that fall in love are intimate, and also when you're shooting [love scenes] there's like 60 grown men [working on set] eating salami sandwiches, kind of waiting for when they can get up and watch the game. There's like trays of food being passed, 'oh, are we rolling?' (we laugh). Nobody cares when you're doing it. It's like your day at work and this is part of the story.

TeenHollywood: Your character in this movie, sometimes gets lost and doesn't know what she wants. Do you have these moments in your own life?

Scarlett: Sure, I mean, I'm only human. Everyone has times when they struggle with where to go from here. I've been fortunate enough always to know what I wanted to do; what I was passionate about and I never had to struggle with that, but there are all kinds of personal times when I felt that way.

TeenHollywood: You are co-starring in the upcoming film The Spirit written and directed by talented 300 and Sin City graphic novel author Frank Miller. Anything you can tell us about that movie?

Scarlett: I loved working with Frank. He's wonderful, he's such a visionary. He would come on set and draw the storyboard [for cast and crew]. It was exciting. He creates these fantastic characters and some of them are just so rotten. It's like none of us are heroes, they're all kind of gray, you know? And I love that.

TeenHollywood: Frank's comics have such a distinct look so was there a lot of special effects work?

Scarlett: Working with the green screen was really interesting because we're shooting in these huge like airplane hangars or something. We had a lot of props so it was almost like [doing] theater in a way. We're so loud because we have to fill this huge room and of course Sam [Jackson] is so loud and the two of us were just so enthusiastic about the whole thing that I actually had to bring the volume of the performance down a little bit and make it a little bit more intimate. It was a lot of fun, we had a really good time on it.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.