Scarlett Johansson talks playing Janet Leigh in Hitchcock biopic

Scarlett Johansson talks Avengers , sex symbol status and a whole lot more in the brand new issue of Total Film magazine (also available in our shiny new interactive iPad edition ).

We took the opportunity to ask her about playing an iconic screen figure in Hitchcock , and here's what she told us:

You’re about to play Psycho star Janet Leigh opposite Anthony Hopkins’ Alfred Hitchcock . Excited?

“I’m very excited to play her. There was never really an actor I wanted to portray or do a bio of but I do love Janet Leigh. I’ve always loved her. She was such a good actor and sexy. But it never got in the way of her work.

"She was spunky and her relationship with Hitchcock was famously one of great admiration and affection between them.”

On being dubbed a sex symbol herself, Johansson added:

“I never wanted to be a sex symbol. I wanted to be a character actor. Those are the actors I often mostly admire.

"But I think that women that are curvy can be pigeonholed in that bombshell thing. I never think of my characters as that way."

Hitchcock will open next year. Johansson will next be seen playing a not-unattractive humanoid alien .

For more from Scarlett Johansson, pick up the latest issue of Total Film magazine, which is out now!

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The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine.