'Girl' author says Scarlett great as Griet

NEWTON, N.J., Jan. 21 (UPI) -- "Girl With a Pearl Earring" scribe Tracy Chevalier says she couldn't be happier with the casting of the film version of her novel.

A fictional account of the relationship between 17th century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth) and Griet (Scarlett Johansson), the servant girl who inspired his most famous painting, the film "Girl With a Pearl Earring" earned 10 British Academy Award nominations Monday.

"I think Colin Firth was very good, but I have to say it really was Scarlett's film and I think it would have been nothing without her," Chevalier told UPI's Karen Butler in a recent phone interview.

"I didn't know anything about her when they cast her except that she was young. She turned 18 on the set. I think that's probably why they cast her. They wanted the freshness. What they were looking for was the impossible. It's a very difficult role to play because there is so little dialogue and you've got to act with your face in a way that inexperienced actresses couldn't handle ... and also look a bit like the painting and remarkably, they found Scarlett."