With a Hollywood strike looming, folks in the industry are locking down projects as quickly as they can -- including Scarlett Johansson, who, The Hollywood Reporter tells us, has not one, not two, but three upcoming films.

Of primary interest to readers of this site will be Johansson's involvement in Frank Miller's The Spirit. In the Gabriel Macht-led adaptation of the classic Will Eisner strip, Johansson will play a woman with an axe to grind. From the article:

Johansson is in final negotiations to play a dangerous beauty named Silk N. Floss. Eisner's strip was known for its women with dangerous curves, and Miller is intent on keeping that tradition. Floss is a sexy and intelligent secretary with a vindictive instinct that makes her the perfect accomplice to the Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson), an evil mastermind.

Sometimes the roles just cast themselves.

Johansson has also joined the cast of He's Just Not That Into You, the Drew Barrymore-produced ensemble dramedy that already boasted the involvement of Barrymore, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly, Bradley Cooper, Kevin Connolly, Justin Long, and Ginnifer Goodwin. According to The Hollywood Reporter, "Johansson will play a pilates instructor/aspiring singer who has an affair with a married man and hopes that he will leave his wife for her."

Last but not least, the article reports that Johansson still has Mary, Queen of Scots on her schedule. The film, which will find Johansson in the title role, has been kicking around for awhile, but development has kicked into a higher gear since The Painted Veil's John Curran agreed to direct.

Before any of these movies hit theaters, Johansson will be seen in a pair of films, this month's The Nanny Diaries and December's The Other Boleyn Girl.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter