Scarlett Johansson turned heads on the red carpet at the Toronto International Film Festival on Monday, wearing a champagne-pink, backless gown as she celebrated the premiere of Eleanor The Great, her feature directorial debut.
The 40-year-old actress-turned-filmmaker’s dress featured spaghetti straps, barely-there dangling sleeves, a cinched midriff and a modest train, and exposed a large black-and-white thorn-dotted rose branch tattoo on her back as well as a smaller lamb design. Johansson wore her hair in a center-parted bun and complemented the look with dangling, leaf-shaped earrings.
Johansson was joined on the carpet by the principal cast, including 95-year-old June Squibb, who stars as the title character; British actors Erin Kellyman and Chiwetel Ejiofor also attended. Squibb arrived in a glittering burgundy suit. Kellyman wore a green ruched off-the-shoulder dress and wore her red curls piled high. Ejiofor appeared in a casual black jacket with a muted green tie.
Eleanor The Great centers on Eleanor Morgenstein (Squibb), a woman in her mid-90s who returns from Florida to New York after the death of her best friend. When Eleanor accidentally sits in at a local Jewish Community Center event intended for Holocaust survivors, the film follows her decision to adopt her deceased friend’s survivor story and the cascade of lies and misunderstandings that follows. Johansson did not act in the picture; she remained behind the camera for her directorial debut.
The film has proved divisive. It currently holds a 64 percent rating among critics surveyed on Rotten Tomatoes, reflecting a range of responses to its shifts between comedy and drama and to its handling of sensitive subject matter.
On the same day, Johansson addressed questions about her husband, comedian and Saturday Night Live anchor Colin Jost. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, she said Jost is "going back to work" on SNL, amid the announced departures of four cast members — Heidi Gardner, Michael Longfellow, Devon Walker and Emil Wakim — ahead of season 51. EW also confirmed that Weekend Update co-anchor Michael Che will return. Jost, who joined SNL as a writer in 2005 and later became head writer and a Weekend Update anchor, has been with the show for two decades.
Johansson said she would "100 percent" love to see Squibb host SNL; Squibb told EW she would be willing if asked. If chosen, Squibb would be by far the oldest person to host the long-running sketch show. The late Betty White, who hosted SNL in 2010 at age 88, currently holds the record.
Festival screenings of Eleanor The Great continued discussion around the film’s tone and subject matter as audiences and critics weighed its blend of humor and drama. Johansson, making her transition from screen performer to director in a project that puts an elderly woman’s moral missteps at its center, used the TIFF premiere to highlight the film’s cast and to answer questions about her off-screen life while the movie begins its festival run.