Scarlett Johansson has accomplished a lot over the course of her career: She’s acted on screen since she was 9, became a Marvel superhero, earned a Tony Award for her work on Broadway, and is one of the rare talents to receive two Oscar nominations in the same year. Her films have collectively made her the highest-grossing lead actor at the global box office,
Now, the Jewish star has added a new feat to her résumé: director.
Johansson’s directorial debut, “Eleanor the Great” (which opened Sept. 26), is nothing like the glossy, action-packed spectacle you might expect from one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars. Instead, it’s a stripped-down dramedy that is funny, tragic, uncomfortably honest, and unmistakably Jewish. How Jewish? Within the first few minutes, viewers are introduced to a Holocaust survivor and witness a hilariously fraught scene involving a supermarket argument over kosher pickles being off the shelves.
“Eleanor the Great” follows 94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein (played by Oscar nominee June Squibb), who is grieving the loss of her best friend, Bessie — a Holocaust survivor portrayed by Rita Zohar, who is herself a real-life survivor. The two had lived together for years in a Florida retirement community, but upon Bessie’s passing, Eleanor packs her bags for New York and moves in with her daughter, Lisa (Jessica Hecht), and grandson, Max (Will Price), in their Upper East Side apartment.
Hoping to keep her mother occupied, Lisa drops Eleanor off at the JCC in Manhattan for senior programming. But upon arrival, she’s mistakenly ushered into the wrong room. Instead of a senior mixer or mahjong group, Eleanor finds herself in a Holocaust survivors’ support circle. And rather than correct the error, Eleanor tells Bessie’s story as if it were her own. Thus begins the most high-stakes game of “yes, and” you’ve ever seen.
This catalyst serves as the setup for the rest of the movie, which quickly snowballs from a small misunderstanding into something far bigger.
Among those present at the support group is Nina (Erin Kellyman), an ambitious NYU journalism student looking for a compelling subject for her next class assignment. She decides to profile Eleanor, intrigued by what she believes is a remarkable survival story. What begins as a class project soon blossoms into an unlikely intergenerational friendship bound by loss. Nina, still reeling from her mother’s recent death, finds in Eleanor not just a subject but a mirror of someone who understands what it means to keep living after grief.
But their connection soon draws wider attention. When Nina’s dad, a high-profile TV anchor (played by Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor), decides to help turn Eleanor’s story into a splashy news feature — complete with a late-in-life bat mitzvah at Congregation Rodeph Sholom — Eleanor’s carefully constructed new identity starts to crack.
One minute you’re howling at Eleanor’s audacity; the next you’re ugly-crying because the film is actually about the complexity of grief, memory, and what we do to feel seen.
Real survivors on screen
One of Johansson’s most powerful and deliberate choices for “Eleanor the Great” was to cast real Holocaust survivors in the film. Among the survivors featured in the support group is 85-year-old Sami Steigmanna frequent motivational speaker well known in the New York Jewish community.
The opportunity came by chance. Steigmann credits Dana Arschina news producer and the granddaughter of an Auschwitz survivor, for connecting him to the production. Arschin asked if he would be interested in being an extra in a movie that was specifically casting Holocaust survivors.
Of the six survivors featured in the support circle, Steigmann was the only one given a speaking role.
“They asked me to say something because I was sitting close to June Squibb, the main character. I did not even know what to say — just to welcome her to the group.”
That single improvised line made it into the final cut and earned Steigmann a promotion from extra to principal performer.
“I got a letter from SAG that I can become a member of the union,” he told Unpacked proudly. “I can honestly say that I’m a Hollywood movie actor.”
Although he appears in the film for only about a minute, Steigmann’s presence left a lasting impression on the cast and crew.
“When I came to the [New York] premiere, everybody was smiling, very happy. I was surprised that everybody knew my name.” Scarlett Johansson personally approached him: “She was radiant.”
It’s a big change from when he filmed the scene in March 2024, when Steigmann said he initially didn’t know who Johansson was.
“My friend who recommended me as an extra asked me if I saw Scarlett, the director, and I said, ‘I don’t know. I’m not sure.’ So I asked someone from the production company if she was there, and they said, ‘What are you talking about? You spoke to her the whole morning.’”
On whether he plans to do more movies, he joked, “I am an unemployed actor like many others and need an agent or a casting agency, which I don’t have. I’m willing to do anything.”
Johansson’s personal connection
For Johansson, “Eleanor the Great” is deeply personal. In a 2017 episode of PBS’s “Finding Your Roots”she learned that her great-great-uncle and his sons were killed in the Warsaw ghetto.
To ensure authenticity, Johansson partnered with the USC Shoah Foundation to facilitate the outreach to survivors and ensure that Bessie’s story was told with realism and care.
The result is a film that fluidly shifts between absurd humor and gut-punch emotion.
It’s also very much a New York movie made by a native New Yorker.
Rather than relying on filming major landmarks, Johansson turns her camera toward the sleepy Yorkville neighborhood of Manhattan’s Upper East Side, bringing the type of affection only a local could capture.
If you’re looking for a film that’ll make you laugh and tug at your heart, “Eleanor the Great” delivers both.
Scarlett Johansson with Sami Steigmann at the New York City premiere, courtesy of Sami Steigmann.
(From left to right) Will Price, Jessica Hecht, Sami Steigmann, June Squibb, Erin Kellyman, and Scarlett Johansson at the film’s New York City premiere. Courtesy of Sami Steigmann.
