Samantha Morton Was ‘Hurt’ To Be Replaced In Her By Scarlett Johansson

The Odyssey star Samantha Morton has admitted that it stung to be replaced by Scarlett Johansson for a major role earlier in her career.

Back in the 2010s, Samantha was due to lend her voice to Spike Jonze’s sci-fi romance Her, about a man who develops a romantic relationship with an artificial intelligence operating system.

In fact, Samantha even spent months on set of the Joaquin Phoenix project, and recorded her lines as the central AI service (whose name, confusingly, was also Samantha).

However, in the end, the director opted to have Scarlett take over in the role, which Samantha was asked about during an appearance on the podcast Happy, Sad, Confused.

“My version of Samantha was very […] English,” the British actor recalled. “It was just very, very different. And I think Scarlett Johansson has a beautiful voice. She’s incredibly evocative.”

Recalling how “sad” she was to miss out on appearing in the film – on which she was credited as an associate producer due to her contributions to the production – Samantha continued: “It does hurt when you’re fired from something or before it. I don’t know.

“What I’d have wished for was another chance in a booth to do an American accent.”

“But I think, you know, Scarlett Johansson!” she conceded. “I mean, come on.”

Spike said in a statement back in 2013: “Samantha was with us on set and was amazing. It was only in post production, when we started editing, that we realized that what the character/movie needed was different from what Samantha and I had created together. So we recast and since then Scarlett has taken over that role.

“I love Samantha. I’ve been friends with her forever and I hope we make lots of things together in the future.”

Her was both a critical and commercial success, earning Spike an Oscar in the Best Original Screenplay category, while the film itself was nominated for Best Picture.