Scarlett Johansson moved to tears by the script for Eleanor The Great

Scarlett Johansson was moved to tears by the script for 'Eleanor The Great'.

The 40-year-old actress is stepping behind the camera as she takes on the role of director for the upcoming drama - which follows a year-old Floridian woman (June Squibb ) as she forms an unlikely friendship with a 19-year-old student (Erin Kellyman) in New York City - and could see a "great possibility" in the emotional screenplay that reminded her of films made in decades gone by.

She told Deadline: "When I read it, I cried, and that almost never happens.

"Sometimes you’ll read a script that’s really moving. When I read 'Jojo Rabbit', I cried. Sometimes a script will move you like that, which is extraordinary.

"I could see there was a great possibility in it,” she continues. “I thought, ‘Oh, actually, I think I could tell this story.’ It reminded me so much of independent film from the mid to late ’90s. I was a kid of the ’90s. I was working in independent film at that time, and I watched a lot of movies in that period of time that were throughout the ’90s into the early aughts, like 'Crossing Delancey' and movies like that I loved as a kid. Richard LaGravenese made a great movie called Living Out Loud, and then certain Woody Allen movies from that period of time, too, that are films that I gravitate toward as just a fan."

The 'Black Widow' star.then recalled that she had been put on such a tight schedule to get the film made but felt "so lucky" when two major production compies got involved.

She said: "I got the script in August, and I was like, ‘We have to make it this winter.’ That was very stressful, like crazy, crazy stressful. It fell apart a thousand different times.

"I don’t want to say I’m a film snob, but I love Sony Pictures Classics.

"The idea of working with TriStar was amazing, it was perfect

"I couldn’t have asked for better partners than Sony Pictures Classics and TriStar. Nicole Brown, our executive at TriStar, is incredible, a dream executive. I was lucky."