Scarlett Johansson 'Exhilarated' for Broadway Return in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Tony-winning film star Scarlett Johansson is close to a deal to return to the Main Stem this fall as Maggie the Cat in Tennessee Williams’ classic Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, according to Variety. As previously reported Johansson and her Avengers co-star Jeremy Renner would play husband and wife in the Williams drama.

“I'm close to making a deal on it,” Johansson said. “I can not wait absolutely to get to it. I'm exhilarated, I'm terrified, but I think in a good way.” Set in a plantation home in the Mississippi Delta, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof tells the story of Brick (presumably played by Renner) and his wife Maggie (Johansson) as they celebrate the birthday of Big Daddy Pollitt, Brick’s father and the Delta’s biggest cotton-planter. The family must grapple with issues they have repressed over the years.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof first opened on Broadway at the Morosco Theatre on March 24, 1955, starring Barbara Bel Geddes as Maggie and Ben Gazzara as Brick. The production won the 1955 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was adapted to film in 1958 starring Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman. The show has been revived on Broadway four times, most recently in 2003 (with a production starring Ashley Judd, Jason Patric, Ned Beatty and Tony nominee Margo Martindale) and in 2008 (starring James Earl Jones, Phylicia Rashad, Terrence Howard and Anika Noni Jones).

Johansson earned a Tony Award for her Broadway debut performance in A View From the Bridge. Her film and TV credits include Lost in Translation, The Prestige, and Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Both Renner and Johansson star in the upcoming super hero film The Avengers, opening in theaters in theaters May 4.