Scarlett Johansson Gives ‘Tower of Terror’ Update: “Hard Nut To Crack”

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Four years later, Scarlett Johansson is still stuck in the Twilight Zone while trying to figure out her Tower of Terror update.

After Deadline announced in 2021 that she’ll produce a new film inspired by the Disney World ride and written by Josh Cooley, the 2x Oscar nominee recently teased that the script is “taking shape” as they attempt to flesh out the narrative of the attraction.

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“It’s a hard nut to crack,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “Harder than you think, because the ride itself, there’s some lore to it, but it’s… I don’t want to say thin, but it is, kind of!”

Despite the 1997 Wonderful World of Disney movie starring Kirsten Dunst, Johansson explained the ride “doesn’t have so much to dig into” in terms of a film narrative, noting the brief story works better for the spooky theme park attraction.

“That’s part of the mystery of the ride,” added Johansson. “It’s been a fun project to work on, because it’s a blue sky project. It has also proved to be a hard nut to crack. But, we’ll crack the case of it. It’s taking shape!”

Opening in 1994 at Disney World, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is set in the same universe as the iconic Rod Serling series, following five people—an actor, a singer, a child star, her nanny and a hotel bellhop—who take the elevator at the Hollywood Tower Hotel and are transported to the Twilight Zone when lightning strikes the building.

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Written and directed by D.J. MacHale, the 1997 film adaptation had no connection to The Twilight Zone, starring Steve Guttenberg as a journalist who investigates the 1939 vanishing depicted in the ride, with the help of his niece (Dunst). Disney’s first film based on one of its rides, it was largely filmed at the actual theme park attraction.

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