Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut Eleanor the Great earns a 5-minute standing ovation at Cannes

Scarlett Johansson's feature directorial debut Eleanor the Great premiered at the Un Certain Regard section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. The screening ended with a 5-minute standing ovation for the director and the cast led by the 95-year-old June Squibb (who previously shared the stage with Johansson at the 2025 Oscars ceremony).

The veteran actress made a splash in 2024 with the Sundance release Thelma, which received an overwhelmingly positive reception for her exciting return as an action star. National Board of Review also named it one of the best independent films of 2024.

However, independent films are notoriously difficult to get funded. The same happened with Scarlett Johansson's Eleanor the Great, which follows a 94-year-old woman on an emotional journey. Here's the official logline, per IMDb,

"After seventy years with her best friend, Eleanor moves to New York City for a fresh start. Making new friends at ninety proves difficult. Longing for connection, she befriends a 19-year-old student."

Despite being a Marvel alumnus and a Hollywood star in her own right, Johansson found it difficult to get the project financed. During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she shared a candid response about the challenges of working on her directorial project:

“Things like this take forever to get made. It would be easier to make something that was the sequel of a $180 million movie or a genre movie that was subpar. To get much, much, much less money for an independent film with an original story that has a lead actor who was 94 was very, very, very challenging.”

So, while introducing the film at Cannes, Scarlett Johansson ensured to give due credit to everything that led to Eleanor the Great:

“When you make a film that’s an independent film like this, no one’s doing it for the money — surprise, surprise. Really, everyone that came together for this film came together because they loved the story, and the script so much. It’s a film about many things: it’s about friendship, it’s about grief, it’s about forgiveness. And I think those are all themes that we can use a lot more of these days.”

Scarlett Johansson's feature directorial debut receives a warm reception upon its Cannes premiere

Scarlett Johansson attended the Cannes screening of Eleanor the Great with her cast — June Squibb, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Erin Kellyman — and her husband, SNL's Colin Jost. Another couple in attendance was The Brutalist star Adrien Brody and his wife Georgina Chapman. The screening ended with a standing ovation and applause. Shortly after, Johansson addressed the audience, saying,

“It’s a film that I feel is historic and also very timely now, and so I hope that you all carry it with you the way that I carry Eleanor with me.”

Johansson directed this feature film based on Tory Kamen's script. Johansson also produced it along with Maven Screen Media (Celine Rattray and Trudie Styler), These Pictures (Keenan Flynn and Jonathan Lia), and Pinky Promise (Kara Durrett and Jessamine Burgum). Pinky Promise also co-financed this project with Wayfarer Studios, MacPac, and Content Engineers.

Eleanor the Great puts a spotlight on a nonagenarian played by June Squibb, who has previously starred in acclaimed projects like Alexander Payne's About Schmidt and Nebraska, the latter of which earned her an Oscar nomination.

Scarlett Johansson is up to a wonderful start in a busy year for her. She is also a part of the cast for Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme, which was screened at Cannes. It is slated to be released by the end of May in the United States. A month later, in July, she will be entering the Jurassic Park franchise with Jurassic World Rebirth, alongside Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey.

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Also read: "Don’t want to mess with that," says Scarlett Johansson on her comeback as Natasha in 'Avengers: Doomsday'

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