Scarlett Johansson Set to Make Directorial Debut with Adaptation of Capote’s Summer Crossing

Golden Globe-nominated actress Scarlett Johansson is reportedly set to direct an adaptation of Truman Capote’s Summer Crossing. The text was Capote’s first novel, which the author famously destroyed in a fit of manic, self-criticism, and was only published posthumously in 2005. The narrative explores cultural divides, and revolves around a teenage debutante in the mid-1940s who spends a summer in New York City cultivating a romance with a Jewish valet parking attendant. Johansson has said that the work “has long captured [her] heart.”

This will be Johansson’s first time directing, an opportunity that she says is “a life dream and deep privilege.”  Much of Johansson’s recent work, from her appearance as “Maggie” in the latest Broadway revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof to her contribution to the soundtrack of the 2012 documentary Chasing Ice, has featured the actress departing from film roles, making her transition into directing less surprising. Given Johansson’s pedigree, her directorial debut is undoubtedly much anticipated.