Director Jonathan Glazer’s 2013 sci-fi thriller, Under the Skin, is renowned for its chilling atmosphere and profound commentary on humanity. But the film’s most unsettling and realistic scenes were achieved through a shocking, uncompromising technique: major Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson went fully undercover, driving a van around the streets of Scotland and interacting with real, unsuspecting men.
The Mission: An Alien Goes Undercover
In the film, Scarlett Johansson plays an unnamed alien entity disguised as a beautiful woman, whose mission is to hunt men by luring them into her dilapidated van. Director Glazer aimed to capture a truly genuine, unscripted view of human behavior from an outsider’s perspective. To achieve this, the team outfitted a Ford Transit van with eight specially designed, cinema-quality hidden cameras (including a bespoke unit called the “One-cam”) concealed within the dashboard. The director, the cinematographer Daniel Landin, and the crew were all hiding silently in the back of the van, monitoring and recording the covert action. Johansson, donning a dark wig, a fur coat, and a British accent, drove the van herself, performing the task of the predator. Her targets were not actors; they were random men in Glasgow and rural Scotland who had no idea they were speaking to one of the world’s most famous actresses, let alone being filmed for a major movie.
The Realism: Chilling and Unscripted
Johansson’s task was to simply drive, pull over, ask for directions, and strike up conversations—all while staying committed to her character’s eerie, emotionless curiosity. The interactions captured were 100% genuine. The naivety, the helpfulness, and the fleeting fear or confusion in the men’s eyes as they were propositioned by the mysterious woman are all real. The scenes were so chillingly authentic that the entire film crew, packed tightly in the rear of the van, often had to hold their breath for fear of making a noise and breaking the illusion. Men who appeared in the film were only told that they had been filmed after the interaction had concluded and were later asked to sign consent forms to use the footage. Some conversations had to be edited out because consent was not granted, underscoring the raw, real-life nature of the footage.
The Legacy: Data and Critical Acclaim
The unconventional guerrilla filmmaking approach defined Under the Skin as an experimental masterpiece that blurred the lines between documentary and fiction. The film received widespread critical acclaim and was celebrated for its radical approach to sci-fi. It won numerous awards, demonstrating that true authenticity, even when achieved through covert means, can create powerful art. This method gave Johansson a completely unique performance experience, stripping away the comfort of a standard film set. Her commitment was instrumental in the film’s success, leading Director Jonathan Glazer to praise her for never flinching from the difficulty or awkwardness of the scenarios she found herself in while driving a derelict van and hunting on the streets of Scotland. By bravely using the world as her set and genuine human interaction as her dialogue, Scarlett Johansson delivered a performance that wasn’t just acting—it was an unnerving, real-life social experiment that remains a landmark in modern cinema.