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It seems like an eternity has passed since The Island bombed so spectacularly, leaving behind a crater of ugly finger-pointing and ass-saving recriminations. It was the marketing! The actors weren't stahs, I tells ya! In today's Page Six, Scarlett Johansson instructs her flack to extend a defiant bird back at the movie's producers for questioning her bonafides:

A spokesman for Johansson tells PAGE SIX's Tom Sykes, "We find it incredible that the producers of 'The Island' have blamed the low box-office results on the film's two lead actors. This is a clear-cut example of the producers' passing the buck and not taking responsibility for their part in making calculated mistakes throughout the film's marketing."
The rep continues: "Ms. Johansson is proud of her performance and the film . . . The film and the actors' performances were overall well received by the critics. We put our trust in the professionals who sold and promoted this film. It is unforgivable that the producers continue to blame everyone but themselves." [...]

Parkes and MacDonald ate their words as PAGE SIX went to press, praising "Scarlett Johansson and Ewan McGregor's extraordinary work" and alleging that their "comments were taken completely out of context." DreamWorks had no comment.

Once Johansson's People decided to use the nuclear option (i.e., taking the fight to the tabloids, where flacks can horse-trade future canoodling stories for a prominently placed producer-slam), Parkes and Macdonald had little choice but to submit themselves to the ritualistic humiliation of The Public Eating of the Ill-Advised, Talent-Baiting Words. While it's trying to sell what's left of its dignity to NBC Universal, DreamWorks doesn't want to look like a place that celebrates Michael Bay crapping away $100 million by getting liquored up and sucker-punching Scarlett Johansson in the breadbasket.