Tonya Mosley

That's the premise of Eleanor the Great, opening tomorrow, a poignant and humorous film that moved first-time director Scarlett Johansson to tears when she initially read the script.

To honor the story's weight, she cast actual Holocaust survivors alongside her lead.

At the center is June Squibb, 94 years old and having the creative run of her life.

The Academy Award-nominated actor has worked for over six decades, but it wasn't until Nebraska in 2013 that she became a household name.

Now with Eleanor the Great, following her recent triumph in Thelma, she's starring yet again as the lead in a story that centers on the very real experiences of someone still navigating life in their 90s.

Johansson herself knows something about breaking barriers.

The two-time Oscar nominee has navigated the industry since she was a kid.

She's built a career that spans intimate dramas like Marriage Story and global blockbusters like the Avengers films.

And now she's directed a film that explores grief and forgiveness.

And who has the right to tell someone's story?

Scarlett Johansson and June Squibb, welcome to Fresh Air.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Well, June, you have this sharp wit in Eleanor the Great.

We have seen this in several of your roles.

But there is this mix of bite and charm, and I want to give listeners a sense of it.

I want to start with a scene from early in the film.

Eleanor, your character, and her best friend Bessie, played by Rita Zohar, are shopping for kosher pickles when a stock boy makes the mistake of saying he thinks that all pickles are basically the same.

And Eleanor basically lets him know what she thinks about that.

That was my guest June Squibb in Eleanor the Great, directed by Scarlett Johansson.