The Book Scarlett Johansson Doesn’t Want Translated

By Dianna Dilworth 

Black WidowThe First Thing You See Was, a French novel that Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson tried to keep from being published, is being released in English next week.

The story is about a mechanic who has a romantic relationship with Johansson, but later realizes that she is a lookalike. The Guardian has more about the lawsuit:

Johansson sued Delacourt last year, with her lawyer stating that the novel constituted a “violation and fraudulent and illegal exploitation of her name, her reputation and her image”, as well as “defamatory claims about her private life”, and set out to stop it from being translated or adapted into a film.

The judge agreed that it was defamatory, but threw out her claim that it should not be translated or filmed, and that it “fraudulently exploited her name, her image and her celebrity”. The actor was awarded just €2,500 (£1,600) in damages, and €2,500 in legal costs, rather than the €50,000 she had claimed.

Weidenfeld & Nicolson is putting out the English version of Gregoire Delacourt’s novel next week.