Woody Allen's leading lady du jour

There are certainly worse Hollywood career moves than becoming Woody Allen's regular screen muse. Scarlett Johansson, star of Allen's current film, "Match Point," and his forthcoming comedy, "Scoop," isn't necessarily comfortable with the designation.

"I don't think that's true," Johansson responds quickly when the term "muse" gets thrown out. "I don't know. I never asked Woody that. I think that's kind of a nice little packaged thing that people can say when you work with somebody more than once, but ... I think that I definitely inspired 'Scoop,' just because he didn't know me beforehand and wasn't gonna make that project, necessarily, last summer. I don't feel any responsibility to live up to that or anything."

Being Allen's unofficial muse brought Diane Keaton an Oscar and sent three Golden Globe nominations in Mia Farrow's direction, though both actresses were romantically involved with the celebrated writer-director for part of their professional relationships as well. It seems that Johansson, who snagged a Golden Globe nomination for "Match Point," and Allen have a different kind of bond.

"We have a similar sense of humor and similar neuroses, and we get along," she explains. "We're both from New York. We make each other laugh a lot ... I think we're both interested in doing a comedy together because we thought it would be just fun to shoot and it gave me an opportunity to see Woody every day, which is great."

In "Match Point," Johansson plays Nola, an American actress in London, whose relationship with an upwardly mobile tennis pro (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) becomes obsessive on both sides. The film was Allen's first experience shooting entirely in Britain. The set didn't produce a lot of New York vs. London arguments, though.

"Not really, other than saying, 'God, I would love a really decent slice of pizza,' " Johansson says. "We spoke about New York a lot just because we obviously both live there and are from there. He's familiar with the school I went to and all those things, so we spoke about New York a lot, but not really comparing."

She's still quick to note, "They are very comparable cities. They're both so cosmopolitan and very quick-paced and this crazy energy and both have a fantastic nightlife there. It was great. It was great to be there."

Muse or no muse, Johansson is obviously a fan of Allen's methods.

"Woody's very hands-off," she says. "I think he hires the actors that respond to the material, and the reason why they respond is because they feel capable that they can bring something with him. He's very easy that way. He's not going to come in and spend an hour with you every morning for character development. I think he feels it interferes with an actor's natural instincts."