Before 2008, Wall Street bankers with more money than they knew what to do with were directing extra funds into the film world in the hopes of turning a profit or at least getting to meet Scarlett Johansson.
That was partly because of Mr Scarlett's defence of the government's Iraq weapons dossier during Lord Hutton's inquiry, and was not helped by the fact that Tony Blair's former spin doctor, Alastair Campbell, apparently refers to Mr Scarlett as "mate".