According to Deadline, Johansson may be the frontrunner to portray video game developer Zoe Quinn in the upcoming film about the Gamergate controversy. The film will be based upon Quinn’s memoir, Crash Override: How to Save the Internet From Itself, which is expected to hit bookshelves September of next year. Numerous actresses have been circling the role, but for now it seems as though Black Widowherself is the front runner.
The film will reportedly center upon Quinn’s life after an online blog post from a bitter ex-boyfriend turned her life upside down. He accused her of cheating on him with several members of the video games journalism community – particularly as a means of getting good press for her own game Depression Quest. With these accusations posted online for the world to see, Quinn supposedly became a victim of Internet harassment and abuse. This abuse eventually led to her personal information being released online, and malicious forces threatening her very safety from the anonymity of the Internet. In the face of such malicious attacks, Quinn decides to fight back against her attackers, taking the controversy public.
Should Scarlett Johansson be given the role of Zoe Quinn, expect the sparks to fly. If you have spent any amount of time on the Internet, chances are you have come across the term "Gamergate" at some point in your scrolling. It has become difficult to describe or talk about because no real concrete definition has ever truly been established by anyone. While the term does indeed carry with it a large degree of ambiguity, boiled down to its more basic elements, it concerns itself with an endeavor to preserve the identity of a true "gamer" as well as the nature ethics in journalism. With a subject as touchy as this one, anyone involved in the adaptation of Crash Override will more than likely find themselves taking fire from both sides.
As video games have become more and more mainstream over the years, many hardcore gamers have come to feel that their subculture has been encroached upon by casual neophytes with little understanding of the world they claim to like. Those who participate in the movement state that they fight for ethics in the world of video games journalism – which they claim Zoe Quinn violated with her supposed infidelity – while those on the opposition of the movement feel it has sinister, misogynistic intentions.
It would be a drastic understatement to say this film deals with a subject people are passionate about. As with many things on the Internet, it all falls into a muddled grey area of "he said, she said." We will bring you more information on the project, as well as any further details on Scarlett Johansson's involvement, as it becomes available.