Scarlett Johansson opened up about her upcoming film Eleanor the Great.
Speaking with PEOPLE at TIFF on September 7, the Black Widow starlet revealed that she cast real Holocaust survivors in her new film Eleanor the Great, starring June Squibb, to help “share their stories.”
"It wasn't really ever a question of whether we would cast real survivors. It was more of how can we identify people that would want to participate, could participate," said Johansson.
She continued, "So, we got really lucky. Every time we would find someone who could participate, it was like, 'Yes, we got another survivor.' "
"I think at the time there was like 250,000 survivors living. Of course, every year it's much less. So, we were able to identify [that] it's a community," explained the Lucy actress.
According to Johansson, co-star Jessica Hecht was instrumental in introducing a few participants, while the Shoah Foundation also assisted in finding survivors eager to be involved.
"I have to say that the whole group was so patient," she added.
"I don't think anybody in the group had really done a film like that before," said Johansson, adding that "They really were just engaged and listening."
She also shared that the survivors were eager to "share their stories," adding jokingly,
Johansson mentioned, "They were pretty excited about catering."
Eleanor the Great premiered at TIFF on September 8, with Scarlett Johansson joining costars June Squibb, Jessica Hecht, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Erin Kellyman at the event.