Exclusive: Scarlett Johansson interviews June Squibb on ‘Eleanor the Great’

Johansson: If you could go back and do it again, would you have started working in film when you were younger?

Squibb: No, I think it happened exactly the way it was supposed to. I remember my years in theater with great love and joy.

Johansson: What moved you about the Eleanor script when you first read it?

Squibb: The whole Holocaust thing. I was a kid during the Second World War and remember Life magazine, when they found the camps, the photos. It was so horrific to me that somebody could do this to another human. I remember it vividly—and this was 80 years ago.

Johansson: Later you converted to Judaism.

June Squibb, 95, stars in 'Eleanor the Great,' directed by Scarlett Johansson.

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Squibb: It was a long time ago in Cleveland. The temple was near the Playhouse, and I met with the rabbi two or three times a week. We really dug each other and would go off on tangents talking about the world, what we thought, everything. He would say, “June, we have to get back to Judaism.” So we did, and I’ll tell you, I knew more than my husband ever knew about Judaism. The rabbi who married us was very proud of me. Now, I did get a Jewish divorce, which was horrible. But going into it was great. [Squibb remarried and then was widowed after a 40-year marriage.]

Johansson: Your character, the Eleanor in Eleanor, has a close friendship with a Holocaust survivor who dies suddenly. So Eleanor more or less assumes her friend’s identity and tells her Holocaust story. One of the themes is: If the person is not there to tell their own story, can we tell it for them?

Squibb: The world has to know. Eleanor believes that, and she has that line when she says, “It’s not a real lie. It’s not hurting anyone, so it’s OK.”

Johansson: Eleanor has outlived a husband and best friend, and now she’s sort of this invisible person. Grief and ageism are themes that are uncomfortable for a lot of people.

Squibb: But I think more people are, if not talking about it, thinking about it. I think we have much more interest in age now than we’ve ever had, because we’re an aging society. Living into your 90s is nothing these days. We’re looking at a future where the country will be full of older people, and we’ll have to find out how to handle it, which I don’t think this country does that well.

Johansson: Society doesn’t handle it well?

Squibb: I think we’re learning. For example, the knowledge we’re getting about retirement homes, different levels of retirement, that it’s not just black or white. We’re becoming more aware. The culture is shifting.

Johansson: Eleanor has a special friendship with a 20-something character, Erin. What do you get out of friendships with people much younger than you?

Squibb: I learn a lot about what’s happening in the world through younger people that I would never know. But regardless of age differences, it’s the same relationship that I would have with anyone.

Johansson: What do you wish you could have told your 20-year-old self when you were starting out?

Squibb: Don’t listen to other people! Have people around you believe in and trust, but make your own decisions. I will think about what people say, but people in general making statements about what you should or shouldn’t do—that’s destructive.

Johansson: You’re turning 96 in November. What else do you want to do?

Squibb: I’ve guest-starred on TV shows, but I’ve never done a series.

Johansson: If an opportunity came up to star in something again, would you be up for it?

Squibb: Oh, yes. Physically, there would have to be things thought about. It couldn’t be just “June runs in and out of a room.” But yeah, I think I would be up for it.