June Squibb on Scarlett Johansson’s Directorial Debut ‘Eleanor the Great’

Ever since her movie Thelma premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, June Squibb has gotten a kick out of the response that’s been repeated over and over again this year.

“People have really made a big deal about the fact that it was my first leading role,” says the veteran actress, who turned 95 in November, of Josh Margolin’s senior citizen dramedy. “Everybody has laughingly said it over and over. People are impressed with that, and as much as anything else, they’re impressed by the fact that I’m still going.”

Still going is one way to put it. Squibb has been churning out the work in 2024 with roles in Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, Velma, Inside Out 2, American Horror Stories and Lost & Found in Cleveland. There’s more to come in the new year.

“I do have some work that I’ve been asked to do though it’s not set yet,” Squibb told The Hollywood Reporter on the red carpet at the recent Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences women’s luncheon in partnership with Chanel at the Academy Museum.

She’s been at it long enough to know not to spoil a deal before its fully negotiated so Squibb changed the subject to the next big role that’s already been reported: Squibb takes on the title role in Scarlett Johansson‘s directorial debut Eleanor the Great opposite Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jessica Hecht and Erin Kellyman.

“I’m very excited about that. To have movies like Thelma and Eleanor the Great, you don’t often have two in a row like these, I’ll tell you that,” said the actress who experienced a career bump thanks to an Oscar nominated turn opposite Bruce Dern in Alexander Payne’s Nebraska.

Written by Tory Kamen, Eleanor follows Eleanor Morgenstein, a 90-year-old woman as she attempts to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for many years.

“She was wonderful,” Squibb says of Johansson. “With her knowledge as an actress, she knew immediately what I was doing, where I was going and how I was shifting everything. That’s wonderful because you don’t often have that. I’ve worked with wonderful directors that don’t have that kind of knowledge like Scarlett does, so this was something very special.”

Squibb said that she and Johansson got along immediately. “You just have to love her. She’s so down-to-Earth. She is so real. We really met on that level, the two of us, because we are both that way.”