Rushdie and Johansson Video Revealed!

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By Matt Haber

April 30, 2008 | 11:31 a.m.

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via dailymail.co.uk

Perhaps you've seen Scarlett Johansson's new video and were impressed by the actress-turned-singer's dirge-like cover of Tom Waits' "Falling Down."

The Daily Mail was less impressed by her singing than her co-star: Salman Rushdie. The author has a blink-and-miss-it cameo in the video nuzzling Ms. Johansson's hair and neck. (Who said writers have it tough?)

The paper takes pains to note of Booker Prize-winning author, "it's fair to say [he] is not classically handsome," and speculates about the odd, unexplained pairing:

Perhaps the star of The Other Boleyn Girl is trying to impress Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, with her literary credentials. Judging by his expression in the video, however, he's just as happy appreciating her more obvious attributes.

Mr. Rushdie's appearance in the video isn't nearly as strange as his other recent acting gig: He currently appears in Helen Hunt's directorial debut, Then She Found Me, as a gynecologist.

(Related: Rushdie gets enamored of Olivia Wilde at the Correspondents' Dinner this past weekend— scroll down a bit to find the passage in our coverage of the weekend.)