Intense scene from Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver’s film ‘Marriage Story’ is great for scaring away wolves, apparently

By Alli Rosenbloom, CNN

(CNN) — A tense scene between Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver in their 2019 film “Marriage Story” was great bait for 2020 Oscar voters but apparently there’s another wild species that’s not a fan.

According to a report published by the Wall Street Journal, a fight scene from the Noah Baumbach-directed drama is among several audio clips that are being broadcast by the US Department of Agriculture on a loudspeaker over farmlands across the west coast to scare off wolves that have been eating livestock from local farms.

Part of the inspiration for using the fight scenes between Driver and Johansson from the film – which depicts their characters’ acrimonious divorce – is to illustrate to the wolves that humans are to be feared, Paul Wolf, a USDA district supervisor in Oregon, told the WSJ.

“I need the wolves to respond and know that, hey, humans are bad,” Wolf said.

CNN has reached out to a representative for Baumbach for comment.

The WSJ reported that gray wolves are “terrorizing livestock herds across the American West,” and that the USDA has been attempting to save the cattle by broadcasting alarming sounds from drones, including fireworks, gunshots and select pieces of pop culture. They have also played AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” and Five Finger Death Punch’s “Blue on Black” to try to scare away wolves they spot from their positions overhead, according to the publication.

A spokesperson for the USDA confirmed to CNN in a statement Wednesday that the organization is “testing various sounds as part of a research project to see what elicits the strongest responses from the wolves.” The audio is being played while a drone is in the vicinity of a wolf or wolves.

“The particular audio from ‘The Marriage Story’ (sic) was chosen to test the effectiveness of the human voice at deterring wolves, as it has both male and female voices to represent the range of different tones. While the pilots have the ability to speak directly to the wolves through the speaker on the drone, this standard audio was chosen to control for individual differences in tone,” the statement read.

“Marriage Story” premiered in theaters in 2019. It stars Driver, Johansson and Laura Dern, and was nominated for six Oscars, including best picture and original screenplay, with Dern winning the statuette for best performance by an actress in a supporting role.

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