Jennifer Lawrence and Scarlett Johansson to battle it out

Susannah Guthrie
Oct 26, 2016, updated Oct 26, 2016

Hollywood's favourite ladies are locked in a cinematic showdown. Photo: Getty

They’re known as Hollywood nice girls, but actresses Scarlett Johansson and Jennifer Lawrence might soon be forced into a face-off when they release duelling films on the same subject.

Both Johansson, 31, and Lawrence, 26, are set to star in biopics about Zelda Fitzgerald, the socialite wife of 1920s American author F Scott Fitzgerald.

Zelda Fitzgerald. Photo: Getty

Zelda Fitzgerald (née Sayre) was a muse to Scott and an icon of the Jazz Age, known for her wild behaviour and creative talent, which many argue was overlooked due to her husband’s fame.

An aspiring novelist, Zelda struggled with her mental health and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. She died in 1948 at the age of 47 in a hospital fire in North Carolina.

Now, Johansson and Lawrence are both involved in pre-production for films about Zelda’s short but memorable life.

Lawrence’s film, titled Zelda, is being developed by famed director Ron Howard.

Meanwhile, Johansson’s film – titled The Beautiful and the Damned – has secured the support of Zelda’s estate.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Johansson’s film also has access to newly-discovered transcripts from a sanatorium indicating Scott stole Zelda’s ideas to use as his own.

Aside from the quality of the films, their success rests largely on the popularity of their leads.

Lawrence looks set to narrowly win on the popularity front after she was crowned Forbes‘ highest-paid actress of 2016, raking in $US46 million over 12 months. Johansson followed closely behind in third spot, earning $US25 million in 2016.

As for Zelda’s iconic look – she’s often credited as being the original flapper – both Johansson and Lawrence have experience playing 1920s and 1930s femme fatales, Johansson in 2004’s A Good Woman and Lawrence in 2014’s Serena.

Jennifer Lawrence in Serena (left) and Scarlett Johansson in A Good Woman.

Zelda is a hot topic at the moment, with actress Christina Ricci also appearing as the famous flapper in Amazon’s original series Z: The Beginning of Everything, to be released in early 2017.

Zelda has also been portrayed several times in recent Hollywood films, most notably by actress Alison Pill in Woody Allen’s 2011 comedy Midnight in Paris.