Mafia, massages and murder.
Scarlett Johansson is a very busy woman as she’s currently filming Taika Waititi’s WWII satire Jojo Rabbit and aside from the small matter of the next Avengers film being released, she also has the rumoured standalone Black Widow film in development – although nothing official has been announced on that.
Since coming to the world’s attention in Lost in Translation, Johansson has established herself as one of the most versatile actresses in Hollywood and the Bafta-winning star will be moving into the world of the mafia in her next film.
Deadline are reporting that in her next project, Johansson will be playing an infamous real-life massage-parlour owner that had ties to the Mafia.
At present, the film is called Rub & Tug and it’s based on the life of Jean Marie Gill, a notorious figure in the Pittsburgh criminal underworld in the late 70s and early 80s.
Gill ran a number of mafia-protected massage parlours in the city, which were fronts for prostitution. Aside from this criminal empire, she also ran an anabolic steroid ring that helped power NFL team the Pittsburgh Steelers.
She died in 2003.
Rupert Sanders is attached to direct the film – he previously worked together with Johansson on Ghost in the Shell – and if the finished article is as wild as the plot, we’ll be very happy.
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