‘Featherwood’: Scarlett Johansson True-Crime Thriller About Texas Neo-Nazis Loses Director Andrea Arnold

Scarlett Johansson, who recently made her feature film directorial debut with “Eleanor The Great,” is having a little bit of trouble with her upcoming thriller “Featherwood” as there is a disappointing update as the gestating film has lost its director, Andrea Arnold (“Big Little Lies”).

Briefly mentioned in a recent profile of the actress from IndieWire, the filmmaker has exited the true-crime film that would explore the world of Neo-Nazis in Texas, a timely subject matter with the increased violence from domestic terrorist groups in the United States, and that has more or less been dismissed by one side of the aisle.

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The project, which first made waves back in 2024 when it hit the European Film Market, would see Johansson play a real-life FBI informant named Carol Blevins. She was a heroin addict and referred to as an “Aryan Princess Featherwood” (code for being “property” of an Aryan Brotherhood gang member) and became one of the FBI’s most important informants during an epic, six-year investigation into the murderous, neo-Nazi crime and drug syndicate activities of the group known as the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas.

Belvins’ work with the FBI led to the convictions of 13 members of the group and would make for some compelling and dark, dramatic work from the actress, something we don’t often see from Johansson, who has been doing more happy-go-lucky roles (less whimsical than “Jojo Rabbit” as well) and franchise work. This new project could be somewhat closer to her role in Jonathan Glazer’s “Under The Skin,” that dark sci-fi film saw her playing an alien that kidnaps and kills locals in Scotland, and it has been a hot minute since she’s done more mature tonal projects.

Johansson is also producing through her production banner, These Pictures, with a script penned by “Black Widow” writer Ned Benson. Other things on deck for the actress are James Gray’s “Paper Tigers” and the Prime Video series “Just Cause.”

Of course, Arnold is known for directing movies such as “Fish Tank,” “Cow,” “Bird,” and “American Honey,” being sort of a perfect fit for the grim tone, and her exit is a bit of a downer, potentially delaying when cameras start rolling.

“Featherwood” sounds like it would fit nicely in the realm of recent films tackling similar subject matter, such as “The Order,” which was also based on true events. We’re curious who will ultimately sit in the director’s chair with Arnold bowing out, and if Johasson will seek out someone brand new, or a name she’s worked with before.