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Director Jonathan Glazer wanted to experiment and incorporate some documentary-like details into the film Under the Skin in order to capture what would be alien’s (the UFO kind) perspective of normal everyday night life in Glasgow, Scotland. Wearing a dark wig, red lipstick and a fake fur coat, actress Scarlett Johansson had to walk or drive around the streets of Glasgow and talk to real-life bystanders. These scenes were completely unscripted and filmed secretly. In reflecting on what it was like to play an alien during these unscripted scenes, Johansson has commented, “I would have Jonathan and the crew in the back of it, filming in this bizarre candid camera situation, and Jonathan would talk to me through an earpiece, giving me instructions. Occasionally he would say, ‘this guy looks good, stop and talk to him’. I would be like, ‘No, are you kidding me? No I won’t because if he gets into the van I think you’ll find we have a reverse predatory situation on our hands. Or I’d say, ‘are you crazy? That man is drunk!’ And I’d keep driving.”

Obtaining permissions from real life civilians proved challenging, according to casting director Kathleen Crawford, “Some of the guys who didn’t know they were being filmed in advance, who were coming up to the van because Scarlett was attracting their attention, somebody would chase after them afterwards and explain and ask ‘could you just sign this, is that alright?’ We got some other permissions retrospectively about four months ago. We went around some of the shops in Glasgow that were featured in a montage when Scarlett falls down, where the people were on screen long enough to want to pop in and speak to them, but they were delighted. The guy in the chip stop, the girl in the bakers, they were like ‘no problem, that’s fine!’”