Scarlett Johansson casts real Holocaust survivors in her directorial debut Eleanor the Great

Scarlett Johansson. Pic/AFP

Hollywood actor Scarlett Johansson has shared insights on her feature directorial debut, Eleanor the Great. The first-time director revealed that for the June Squibb-starrer, she cast real holocaust survivors to "share their stories".

Johansson, 40, told an international publication, "It wasn't really ever a question of whether we would cast real survivors. It was more of how we can identify people that would want to and could participate. So, we got really lucky".

She further mentioned, "Every time we would find someone who could participate, it was like, ‘Yes, we got another survivor'. I think at the time there were 2,50,000 survivors living there. Of course, every year it's much less. So, we were able to identify [that] it's a community".

The actor also noted that Jessica Hecht, who stars in the film, "was really helpful in helping identify a couple of people" for the movie, along with the Shoah Foundation. She shared, "I don't think anybody in the group had done a film like that before. They were just engaged and listening".

The director also said that the survivors were eager to "share their stories". Eleanor the Great celebrated its Toronto International Film Festival première on Monday, September 8. Following the world première in May at the Cannes Film Festival, Eleanor the Great is set to bow in theatres on September 26.

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