Scarlett Johansson Denies Learning Lucha Libre For 'Iron Man 2'

In the Paramount-sanctioned press notes for "Iron Man 2," director Jon Favreau goes on at length about star Scarlett Johansson's commitment to training for her Black Widow fight scenes by learning all manner of combat styles. "The biggest one was lucha libre, a Mexican wrestling style of fighting that seemed silly when they first mentioned it to me," Favreau said in the notes referring to the fighting many Americans recognize from Jack Black's "Nacho Libre." "I thought it was a little comical with all of the swinging around, flips, holds and acrobatic moves, but when you see a woman doing it in the Black Widow costume, and it's not a pot-bellied wrestler with a mask, it has a much different effect."

That's a great story; if only it were true. Johansson herself set the record straight for MTV News. "That is totally untrue," she laughed. "I don't know where that came from." But it was in the press notes! Favreau said it himself!

"He's insane," she said. "I don't know what he's talking about. That never happened. I'm going to have to have a word with him afterwards."

That's not to say she didn't do any training at all. The 25-year-old actress learned elements of gymnastics, Muay Thai kick-boxing and regular boxing before taking on her own wire-assisted stunt work. "But no Mexican wrestling," she said. "That's my next picture!

"It was a bit daunting at first, especially when I was watching whatever Tom Harper, our stunt coordinator, had cut together, these sequences that he was planning and choreographing," she explained. "It was like, 'I'm going to be doing that in how many months?' It just seemed like it'd be really painful. And it was. It all paid off in the end."