Johansson played the voice of Samantha, an artificially intelligent virtual assistant who develops a relationship with Theodore Twombly, played by Joaquin Phoenix. During one scene, Johansson's character was required to record herself having an org@sm, which proved to be a bizarre and uncomfortable experience for Phoenix.
Johansson revealed that Phoenix was so uncomfortable with the scene that he had to leave the studio. "We tried to get through one take, and he was, like, losing it," Johansson said.
"I was fine. Joaquin was not – he was so upset about it. He left the studio, and now I'm in this box by myself, and I'm like, 'I can't do it alone. I need him to come back.' He needed a break; he took a break, and he came back in."
Johansson also opened up about being "hypers-xualised" in the earlier years of her career and feeling objectified in Hollywood. Despite some progress made with the #MeToo movement, Johansson acknowledged that there is still a lot of work to be done.
She said, "I've come to this realisation that it's important to understand progress and change when it's really meaningful – it takes two steps forward and two steps back, and then it gets better and then it gets worse."
