30 November 2022, 15:02 by Karzal

Scarlett Johansson in Prime Video's Just Cause thriller series

Scarlett Johansson will portray the lead character in Just Cause, a thriller series that is based on the 1992 novel by John Katzenbach.

In a highly competitive situation, the project - from writer Christy Hall (I Am Not Okay With This), These Pictures and Warner Bros. TV, ended up at Amazon Studios with a straight-to-series order for Prime Video.

In the TV adaptation, the book’s male protagonist, Miami newspaper editorial writer Matt Cowart, is undergoing a gender swap, with Johansson playing the series’ female lead Madison “Madi” Cowart, a struggling reporter for a Florida newspaper sent to cover the final days of an inmate on death row.

Embed from Getty Images

Johannson (photo), a two-time Oscar nominee and a Tony winner, has a personal connection to the title. At age 10, she appeared in Warner Bros.’ 1995 feature adaptation of Katzenbach’s book in only her second film role. She played the daughter of the main character, who was revamped as Harvard law professor Paul Armstrong and was played by Sean Connery.

Hall executive produces the Just Cause limited series alongside Johansson, Jonathan Lia and Keenan Flynn of These Pictures. Zara Duffy, Head of Television for These Pictures, is overseeing for the company. Warner Bros. TV is the studio.

On the small screen, Johansson is known for her six appearances on Saturday Night Live and additional performances as Ivanka Trump. Johansson's only other television credit is a recurring voice role in Robot Chicken. She was part of the returning voice cast between 2006 and 2008.

Hall, a LA-based playwright and screenwriter, co-developed and executive produced the Netflix/21 Laps 2020 series I’m Not OK With This, an adaptation of Charles Foreman’s graphic novel.

Comments (6)

JanWillemK • 30 November 2022, 16:16

Oh oh, as long as that goes well. I foresee a Scarlett Johansson being canceled, or attempted, because she took on this role. *edit, the piece above made it seem as if the story revolved around a transgender man who would have a sex change, but the main character in the book is a man and is now played by a woman (Scarlett). Well, let's go :P

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BlackBiker • 30 November 2022, 16:33

Well, I'm not so sure yet. A transgender woman (formerly man) played by a real woman? The snowflakes are definitely not going to be okay with that. I'm definitely not going to watch this series, but I'm looking forward to the shitstorm on Twitter :-)

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JanWillemK • 30 November 2022, 18:08

The article is a bit unclear. I can't find anywhere that the main character is trans. In the book the main character is a man, but in the series it is played by a woman.

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DAVE2804 • 30 November 2022, 18:40

The main character is not trans. The main character in both the book and the film is a man, for the series it will be a woman. That is why the original article talks about a gender change regarding the main character, but this should not be taken literally. So Scarlett is not going to play trans. If that were the case, I would have added it to the article. But I admit, that could have been clearer.

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JanWillemK • 30 November 2022, 18:49

Thanks for the clarification!

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BlackBiker • 30 November 2022, 19:00

Thanks, Dave. Clear now. I too was indeed misled. But I also know that it is not always easy to translate articles properly. Things may go wrong, but where there is chopping, there are chips and I am very happy that you chop here ;-)

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