Shadowing Practice: Scarlett Johansson Rewatches The Avengers, Lost in Translation & More | Vanity Fair - Learn English Speaking with Video

I can't believe I could know you forever!

You're insane!

It's so brutal.

But it's also, it makes me laugh.

Yeah, I mean, I think even on the, um...

Oh, hold on, I just have to go grab the phone once.

Hello?

I'm sorry?

Oh, yes, great.

Thank you.

Sorry, where were we?

We were talking about how hilarious marriage story is.

Hi, everyone.

I'm Scarlett Johansson, and today we'll be watching some scenes from throughout my career my worst nightmares have begun and

how the hell did we get

so far behind him i don't know it's just great jesus oh yay oh my god Look at this.

Wow'sville.

Authentic 50s diner.

Since when were there mini malls in the 1950s?

That 15 year old version of me is the same 15 year old version of me.

And living inside my 40 year old body.

I don't think I've seen this film in, I mean it's been legit like 20 something years.

I have to say that out of my, all of the films that I've done,

other than probably you know some of the Marvel films I've done

or Avengers obviously very meaningful to a wide audience of people

but I have to say I get Ghosts Brawl is my favorite movie a lot whenever I hear

that I know

that I'm talking to somebody who's like a real cinephile you know probably a fan of either Daniel Klaus

or Terry Zweigoff or both and yeah it's just it always makes me happy.

It was such a, I loved making this movie.

It was, yeah, it was 15.

Everything was awesome.

Hey, check out the awesome 50s hairdo on our waiter.

Hi, my name is Alan, and I'll be your waiter this afternoon.

Hi, Al.

Can we call you Weird Al?

I'd imagine so.

I think at the time, you know, being a 15-year-old working actor,

Teenage slasher movies were really popular and I was not a fan of teenage slasher movies.

Not that there's anything wrong with this, it just wasn't my thing.

It was rare to be offered something that was a film that I would go and see.

And so when I read the script for Ghost World, it just felt very authentic to,

you know, just the dialogue that I was having with my friends.

It felt quirky and interesting and different.

And I loved Crumb, which was a film that Terry Zweigoff had made, and I was unusual.

You know, it was not what was kind of happening for an actor my age.

We need you to come in.

Are you kidding?

this takes precedence i'm in the middle of an interrogation this moron is giving me everything

i don't give everything i'm trying to remember what the rehearsal

process was for the scene i mean a lot of this fight like i couldn't perform

because it i'm tied to a chair

and it's actually like really burdensome the incomparable um heidi moneymaker

who is my uh my stunt double for all of the um avengers films

and she is an incredible athlete amazing performer she knows me

so well she knows my capabilities so well

because we've been we've worked together since i was you know in iron man 2 i was like 23

or 24 um for a decade of time we together created uh black widow and her style and her gait and her,

you know, all of the flourishes that come with her fight style and stuff like that.

And so probably a lot of this chair sequence is the stunt team has done this like amazing previs

and then you would work out what pieces

that you would be able to be capable of doing and what pieces the stunt performer would be doing and, you know, and it kind of becomes like a marriage of those two things.

I do remember how challenging it was to learn the like four and a half seconds of Russian.

That to me probably was more difficult than the stunt, if that makes any sense.

It was like mental, a mental stunt.

Yeah, that part was, I was way more stressed about the Russian than the chair.

When we made the first Avengers, none of us knew what the potential of this, the Avengers particularly would be.

Iron Man was massively successful, was huge.

It built the studio of Marvel.

And then Iron Man 2 was also very successful.

There was Thor and

that character felt like it was from a completely different universe

in a way i mean obviously there's a whole mcu

but it was such a different tone of the iron man movies

and then of course captain america had its whole own identity as well

and then when you added the characters all together plus hulk

and you know hawkeye

and you know it just felt like a big mess i mean to be honest

and it just it even on the set it felt crazy because we all looked insane it was I was like, what are we doing?

I mean, I don't think anybody really knew if it was going to work or not.

I'm sure Kevin Feige knew it was going to work.

Joss Whedon knew it was going to work.

But the cast, it was like a sort of, it was blind faith, basically, that we all had in Joss and in Kevin Feige.

I remember the scene where we all are in that sort of, like right in front of Grand Central.

It was like that big scene that you see the 360 of all the characters together.

That was the moment where all of us were like, I think this is maybe going to work.

It felt powerful.

And we were like, oh, we actually all, like when we watched the playback, it looked really cool.

But so much of it didn't feel very cool when we were shooting it.

We were so young and we were having such a great time and such a great group of actors.

And we all became such good friends.

I have great memories of shooting it.

It was just a blast.

It's like a whole family for us.

You know, we've gone through all personally so many changes and ups and downs and in and outs and everything else.

And, you know, we're all kind of like come out the other side a little bruised and battered, but you know, but together, united.

I think this was maybe the last scene that we shot.

It was certainly a scene that we stole, which I just realized because I saw some of the extras in the background on the right side being like, look what's going on over there.

I guess it was a time where you couldn't like paint those people out.

100

I've seen a lot of different videos where people have heightened volume,

101

or I don't know, whatever you do to try to fill in the blanks of missing audio.

102

I guarantee you whatever was said in reality is probably much less magical than what is in your mind.

103

And so I always encourage people to not dig too deep

104

because I think it's the mystery of what is exchanged there

105

that is the magic of the film and what Sophia intended in the film.

106

Nothing is scripted.

107

I was so young when I made this movie.

108

I was 17 years old

109

and I was very much having a parallel experience to the character

110

because I was in Tokyo far away from anything familiar

111

and I was working night and day and day and night

112

and very disoriented and just felt I I think alone in some parts of the experience.

113

I think in this moment, what it looks like to me and what it makes me remember about it, I think is that it was sort of an improvised thing.

114

And like I'd experienced so much making this film as a young woman that I probably felt pretty kind of

115

overwhelmed and just sort of like open to whatever this exchange was going to be since nothing was scripted

116

but I guess that's why it works

117

I actually totally forgot that we kissed in this movie so I was like oh wow, I forgot that that happened.

118

I haven't seen this film in so long.

119

It's rare to re-watch stuff.

120

I guess if it was on, I would probably stop and watch it for a while.

121

It's so hard for me to have perspective on the work

122

that I've done because it's such a specific time and place captured on film.

123

I mean, it's one of the great things about the art form is it's this performance is frozen in time.

124

It's not like theater, which is much more ephemeral.

125

You know, it's like this is kind of the way that Sophia saw it.

126

And then the performance that she edited was, you know, the one that she like, you know, I think desire or outcome for the character.

127

And so I always look at the movies that I've done in the past.

128

And I'm sure I probably would do the same for this film, even though it was a bajillion years ago.

129

I always am like, oh, you know, there was like a different take that I preferred or I actually will be like,

130

oh, I know what that line means now.

131

You know, it was not as meaningful then or something like that.

132

So it's hard for me to watch things without being, I try to just be too critical, especially because, you know, it is what it is.

133

But it's like, I'll go back in my mind

134

and review my own performance and remember what I thought I was working then

135

and then I think what I would do differently if I could do it again.

136

What's it like to be alive in that room right now?

137

What do you mean?

138

What do you...

139

Tell me you...

140

Tell me everything that's going through your mind.

141

Tell me everything you're thinking.

142

The recording process was pretty extensive.

143

That's extensive, not expensive.

144

Now it probably was also expensive, but because we spent so much time in the recording studio.

145

I recorded some of this with alone.

146

Basically, there was kind of a box that was created for the Samantha character that the actor used on set.

147

And so that box was brought into the recording studio.

148

It was kind of like being in a phone booth, I would say, inside.

149

I think it was just also to create the atmosphere of like being in this contained thing because in fact, you don't really need to be inside a sound booth inside a sound booth.

150

You know what I mean?

151

It was like a spike thing.

152

I don't know, he had some affinity for this little like prison box thing.

153

But it actually did kind of work in an interest.

154

I did create this space that was so contained that it felt like you were like hyper focused on

155

all the nuance of um the vocal performance

156

and you know sometimes spike would get in there with me

157

so he would be like in a little ball on the floor

158

and we would read together like that

159

and sometimes he would be outside of my of my box

160

and he would be you know in front of me

161

and I would be recording more traditionally like you know to

162

the recording of Joaquin's original uh dialogue in the film

163

and then sometimes Joaquin would come in and we would do scenes together

164

but we we recorded this film in its entirety I mean

165

I I can't even count how many times we did it we did it

166

so so many times over a long stretch like I would do a day you know here

167

and there over like the course of a year We would work all day, you know, work from like a full day.

168

And so and actually you can, you know, you could complete the read the entire script in its entirety, like probably quite a few times in one day.

169

There are a multitude of options on this for Spike to choose from.

170

Like he really must have gone in

171

and like he did like surgery to pick out specific vocal performances that he that resonated with him.

172

It was great.

173

I mean, it was very challenging, I would say.

174

I mean, I remember when my agent sent me the project, he goes, it's like a few days of work like it's like a you know you're kind of like supporting character

175

and then i read the script i was like it seems kind of like extensive again there's

176

that word and then i went and met with spike

177

and i realized i called my agent i was like this

178

is a massive job i had no time to do it

179

because i was doing a play at the time

180

but it we did it you know we figured it out over probably like a year.

181

You've been through a lot lately.

182

You lost a part of yourself.

183

I mean, at least your feelings are real.

184

I don't know.

185

Never mind.

186

I think this film presents a version of the not too distant future that,

187

where, you know, AI, I think that where we are able to, like, utilize AI in a positive way,

188

you know, to benefit humanity.

189

It's an optimistic view, you know, and Spike Jonze, who made the film, is a very optimistic person.

190

You know, I think it shows the importance of film

191

and the diversity of thought and you know the way

192

that there's a good way to use it in a

193

and a not so good way to use it I think we have to utilize AI to our to our advantage, you know, and not let it consume us

194

You think you found some better opposite guy than me

195

and in a few years you rebel against him because you need to have your voice But you don't want a voice, you just want to fucking complain about not having a voice.

196

I think about being married to you and that woman is a stranger to me.

197

I mean we had a child's marriage.

198

You've gone back to your life before you met me, it's pathetic.

199

It's so brutal.

200

It's really brutal.

201

Even on the day, it's just so cruel that it's, I don't know, there's like some gallows humor in it or something.

202

Noah had such a specific idea of how he wanted to shoot this and then he had it edited in his mind.

203

It's interesting even watching it now.

204

I'm paying more attention to what shots he chose.

205

It's such an interesting composition, this fight scene.

206

It's so carefully constructed.

207

But of course, Adam and I are not thinking about that.

208

We're just in the moment of the truth of what we're doing.

209

We shot this over a couple of days because we did it so many times.

210

We must have had the fight in its entirety like probably like 40 times, maybe more like 50 times or something.

211

It's got to have been actually more than that now

212

that I think about it because we would do a setup and do like, you know, 15 takes and there's so many setups in it.

213

So I actually don't even know.

214

We could have done it like 80 times in its entirety.

215

it!

216

There's so much I didn't do!

217

Oh, thanks for that.

218

You're welcome.

219

I can't believe I have to know you forever.

220

Oh, you're fucking insane.

221

And you're fucking winning.

222

Are you kidding me?

223

It was sort of like boxing where you kind of like both go to your corners afterward.

224

And you know, at the end of the scene, like the characters hold each other, you know, and they kind of fall into each other and kind of become this like sheep.

225

There was a resolution at the end of each take.

226

And then you just need to kind of separate for a little bit, just recover.

227

But Adam has such incredible stamina, and he's just so present.

228

I don't think he knows how to be any other way.

229

I mean, he's like that even just talking to him.

230

He's just very, very present, and there's no bullshit with him.

231

He's just like everything just comes out of him.

232

You know, it's not like measured at all.

233

And that makes it fun because you know what you're going to...

234

The scene then becomes really flexible and there's a lot of like room to discover new things.

235

Especially if you're doing a scene 400 times.

236

All right everyone, thank you so much for watching.

237

It's my night-night time.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing Practice: Scarlett Johansson Rewatches The Avengers, Lost in Translation & More | Vanity Fair - Learn English Speaking with Video

Context & Background

Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication

Step-by-step Shadowing Guide

What is the Shadowing Technique?