It is a weird thing, isn't it? One of the most intimate, heart-wrenching romances in modern cinema involves two people who were almost never in the same room. If you’ve seen Spike Jonze’s 2013 masterpiece Her, you know the vibe. It’s all high-waisted pants, pastel filters, and that crushing Los Angeles loneliness. But the story of Scarlett Johansson and Joaquin Phoenix and how they actually "worked" together is way messier than the polished, melancholic film suggests.
Most people think they just showed up, read some lines, and created magic. Honestly, it was a lot more chaotic than that.
The Recasting That Changed Everything
Here is the thing most fans totally miss: Scarlett Johansson wasn’t even supposed to be in the movie. For the entire duration of principal photography, Joaquin Phoenix wasn't talking to Scarlett. He was talking to Samantha Morton.
Morton was physically on set every single day. She sat in a plywood box or tucked herself away in corners so Joaquin could hear her voice in real-time. They built a real connection. They filmed the whole thing. Then, during the edit, Spike Jonze realized something was off. It wasn’t that Morton was bad—she’s incredible—but the "soul" of the AI didn't quite match the movie he was building in the dark of the editing room.
He had to make that awkward phone call. He replaced her with Scarlett Johansson in post-production.
This meant Scarlett had to come in and "act" against a performance Joaquin had already finished months prior. She was essentially a ghost haunting a completed film. Imagine trying to find a soulmate-level connection with a recording. It's tough. Scarlett has mentioned in interviews—specifically on the Armchair Expert podcast—that it was one of the most bizarre professional experiences of her life.
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That Infamous Recording Studio Incident
You probably remember the "sex scene." It’s not a traditional scene. There are no bodies, just a black screen and the sound of two people trying to bridge the gap between human and software.
It was a nightmare to film.
Scarlett and Joaquin actually had to get into a recording booth together to do the audio for that sequence. If you think it’s awkward to watch, imagine being them. Scarlett was trying to find the right "voice" for an AI having an intimate moment. Joaquin, who is notoriously intense but also prone to getting "the giggles" or feeling overwhelmed, couldn't handle it.
He lost it.
Basically, he got so uncomfortable that he walked out of the studio. Scarlett was left sitting there in the booth, alone, thinking, "Is he coming back?" He needed a break because the sheer awkwardness of faking those sounds in a cold, professional environment was too much. Eventually, he came back, they finished the take, and that raw, strange energy is exactly what ended up in the final cut.
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Why Their Chemistry Felt So Real
It’s a testament to their skill that Scarlett Johansson and Joaquin Phoenix feel like they have more chemistry than 90% of on-screen couples who actually touch each other.
Joaquin plays Theodore Twombly with this fragile, slouching vulnerability. He isn't playing to a computer; he's playing to a void. Scarlett, meanwhile, had to record her lines over and over, trying to capture the sound of someone—or something—growing. She starts the movie sounding like a helpful, slightly "vocal fry" assistant and ends it sounding like a cosmic entity.
- The Shanghai Connection: To get that futuristic L.A. look, they shot a lot in Shanghai.
- The Red Palette: Notice how the color blue is almost entirely absent from the movie? That was a deliberate choice by cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema to make the world feel warmer and more "Theodore-centric."
- The Earbud: Joaquin had a tiny earpiece in his ear for the whole shoot so he could hear the dialogue, making his reactions feel immediate and "live."
The Misconception of the "Manic Pixie Dream OS"
A lot of people criticize the relationship between Scarlett Johansson and Joaquin Phoenix as a male fantasy. Man buys computer, computer loves man, computer exists only to fix man.
But if you watch the ending, that’s not what happens.
Samantha outgrows him. She becomes so intelligent and multifaceted that a single human mind can’t satisfy her anymore. While Theodore is stuck in his apartment, she’s talking to thousands of other people and an AI version of philosopher Alan Watts. The movie isn't about a guy getting the girl; it's about the pain of realizing that someone you love is evolving in a direction you can't follow.
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What You Can Learn From Their Collaboration
If you’re a creator, or just someone who loves the process, there’s a massive lesson in how this movie came together.
- Don't be afraid to pivot. Spike Jonze threw away an entire performance by a world-class actress (Morton) because it didn't fit the final vision. It was expensive and painful, but it made the movie a classic.
- Limitations breed intimacy. By taking away Scarlett’s physical presence, the audience is forced to focus on the nuances of her voice—the little breaths, the cracks, the laughs.
- Vulnerability is the "Secret Sauce." Both actors had to be willing to look (and sound) absolutely ridiculous to get to the truth of the scene.
The legacy of Scarlett Johansson and Joaquin Phoenix in this film has only grown since 2013. With the rise of LLMs and voice-integrated AI in 2026, the movie feels less like science fiction and more like a documentary of our current social landscape.
If you want to see their work in a different light, try watching the film with your eyes closed during some of their conversations. You’ll realize just how much heavy lifting Scarlett is doing with nothing but her vocal cords, and how much Joaquin is doing with nothing but his ears.
Check out the original Her soundtrack by Arcade Fire if you want to really sink back into that atmosphere. It’s still one of the best "lonely night" listens out there. Or, better yet, look up the behind-the-scenes interviews where Scarlett talks about the "grossness" of recording those audio scenes—it’ll make you appreciate the "magic" of Hollywood just a little bit more.