Scarlett Johansson 'is not sure' about her directing future

Scarlett Johansson is "not sure" whether to focus her attention on directing or acting.

The 40-year-old movie star recently made her directorial debut with 'Eleanor the Great', the new drama film starring June Squibb and Chiwetel Ejiofor, but Scarlett doesn't yet know whether her long-term future is in front, or behind, the camera.

Asked if the film marks a new beginning for her, Scarlett told Collider: "I don't know. I'm not sure. I guess we'll see.

"My intention is to work on projects I would go and see, whether they're like 'Jurassic World' or this film. The commerciality of things is also important to me, too. Would audiences want to see this, too? Is this generally interesting? Those are things I look for and focus on and care about. So, we’ll see, I guess."

Scarlett - who is one of the best-paid actresses in Hollywood - insisted that she has no intention of retiring from acting.

She clarified: I'm certainly still an actor for hire — I want that to be widely printed."

Scarlett feels proud of her directorial debut, and the actress insists that she doesn't worry about critics.

The film star shared: "I'm as used to that as you can be, I guess. You get held to different standards, which is okay. I can shoulder that. I think making something that is moving, to me, is so gratifying.

"If you can be in the theatre and I make you cry, that's the most gratifying thing beyond whatever else comes out of it."

Scarlett starred alongside Bill Murray in 'Lost in Translation', the 2003 comedy-drama movie, and she recently identified the film as a turning point in her career.

The actress told Vanity Fair magazine: "After 'Lost in Translation', every role that I was offered for years was ‘the girlfriend,’ ‘the other woman,’ a sex object - I couldn’t get out of the cycle.

"It sort of felt like, ‘Oh, I guess this is my identity now as an actor.’ There wasn’t much I could do with that."

Scarlett recalled feeling uncomfortable with how she was portrayed at the time.

The movie star even suggested that she was the victim of "an exploitation".

Scarlett - who is married to comedian Colin Jost - said: "You come into your sexuality and your desirability as part of your growth, and it’s exciting to blossom into yourself. You’re wearing the clothes you want, you’re expressing yourself, then you suddenly turn around and you’re like, ‘Wait, I feel like I’m being’ - I don’t want to say exploited because it’s such a severe word.

"That term is so heavy, but yeah, it was a kind of an exploitation."