Scarlett Johansson did a lot of growing up in the three years between her Broadway debut, at the age of 25 in "A View From the Bridge," and her return in December as Maggie in Tennessee Williams's "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."

She went through a divorce from the actor Ryan Reynolds. She ended professional ties with her mother, Melanie Sloan, who had been her manager. And she cut back on the sexy ingenue roles that had made her a star in "Lost in Translation" and Woody Allen films like "Match Point." Instead she opted for frank, flintier characters, women more like herself: the steely Natasha Romanoff in the recent movie "The Avengers" and a no-nonsense zookeeper in the 2011 family film "We Bought a Zoo."

Her fierce hunger for movie stardom has mellowed, a little, in favor of pursuing deeper challenges as an actress. And with "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" she has chosen a beauty: the stubbornly pragmatic Maggie, a role played by the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Jessica Lange, Kathleen Turner and - in just the last nine years on Broadway - Ashley Judd and Anika Noni Rose.

"I felt extreme vulnerability over the last few years, more than I ever had, and no longer wanted to keep rushing into movie jobs or a play just to escape how I was feeling," Ms. Johansson said. "Once I wanted to work again, I wanted to start playing adults - tough women who knew what it took to survive."

After her first time on Broadway, she decided she was going "to do projects that I didn't know how to do."

"I'm finally at a place in my life," she said, "where I feel comfortable not anticipating the result. I'm comfortable with being uncomfortable."

Not a hint of celebrity or arrogance attends Ms. Johansson, according to the director, Rob Ashford, and her cast mates. Memorizing Maggie's long monologues in Act I, for instance, so unnerved Ms. Johansson that she asked friends for advice and snapped when they tried to be positive.

Still, she wanted to prove to herself that she could master a major role from the American canon, after nursing herself through the divorce by playing "a person dedicated to animals and not herself" in "We Bought a Zoo," and starting to date again. (She is now seeing a French journalist, Romain Dauriac.)

There was no trace of heartache during the interview, as Ms. Johansson proudly showed off a couple of her tattoos and talked easily about her own body and Maggie's satin lingerie. "The slip won't be a cleavage-heaving, thigh-baring sort of thing," Ms. Johansson said, "but it'll look great."

Ms. Johansson's earlier character on Broadway was far more buttoned-up - the teenager, Catherine, in Arthur Miller's "View From the Bridge," who was unaware of her sexuality and its effect on men. Gregory Mosher, the director of that play, recalled Ms. Johansson's work ethic - "come early, stay late, trust your colleagues, never give up on trying to find a way to do a moment more simply or truthfully" - while Ms. Johansson mostly remembers being hard on her own performance.

"I never thought I would do another play after 'View,' " she said. "I was just so tired."

When Ms. Johansson read "Cat," Maggie's mix of resourcefulness and insecurity struck personal chords.

"To bare yourself - to be naked in front of someone and show your belly, and be willing to face the hard truth of pain and rejection - is who I am and is who Maggie is," Ms. Johansson said.

According to the show's investor prospectus, Ms. Johansson is being paid $40,000 a week plus at least 7.5 percent of ticket sales if the show becomes a box-office hit and certain financial thresholds are reached. (By comparison, Al Pacino is earning more than $120,000 a week in salary and a box office cut for the Broadway revival of "Glengarry Glen Ross.")

Exploring every layer of Maggie is not only about doing justice to the character, Ms. Johansson said, but also a way of expressing gratitude for having a great adult role at this point in her career.

"I feel like I've been transitioning from young woman into womanhood for a very long time," she said. "Now, as I approach 30, with the last few years behind me, I feel like growing pains are behind me." Then she laughed and muttered a profanity. "It's just nice to feel happy."

The New York Times

(China Daily 01/06/2013 page12)