According to Johansson, Phoenix abruptly left the set during the filming of her "bizarre" fake org^sm recordings.
In the Spike Jonze-directed film, Phoenix played a character who becomes enamored with an operating system named Samantha, voiced by Johansson. Their relationship even delves into phone s^x scenes, requiring Johansson to simulate org^smic sounds.
Johansson disclosed, "We attempted to complete a take, but Joaquin was visibly struggling to maintain composure.
Eventually, he left the studio, feeling the need for a break." She went on to describe her own discomfort, explaining, "Hearing one's own voice can be off-putting enough, but hearing yourself simulate an org^sm is a whole other level of cringe. It felt incredibly strange and somewhat repulsive."
Interestingly, Samantha Morton was initially cast as Samantha in "Her," and scenes featuring her delivering the phone dialogue were already shot. However, during post-production, Johansson replaced Morton, re-recording all the lines and shooting additional scenes alongside Phoenix. When the film was released in December 2013, it garnered critical acclaim and earned Spike Jonze an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. "Her" also received a nomination for Best Picture.
In addition to sharing this behind-the-scenes story, Johansson used the podcast interview as an opportunity to open up about her early career experiences and the challenges she faced due to being hypers^xualized.
She revealed feeling objectified and pigeonholed, resulting in doubts about the future of her acting career. Johansson candidly expressed, "At one point, I started to believe that people saw me as much older than I actually was. It was disheartening to see that the roles I was being offered were confined to this hypers^xualized image I was associated with. I questioned if that was the extent of my career."
