Scarlett Johansson To Play Pittsburgh Massage Parlor Operator

PITTSBURGH, PA - When Dante “Tex” Gill died in 2003, few imagined that her life story, unique as it was, would become a Hollywood movie. But 15 years after her death, actress Scarlett Johansson will play the notorious 1970s Pittsburgh massage parlor operator.

Johansson will star in “Rub and Tug,” in the fact based story of Gill, a woman who dressed as a man and was one of the most powerful figures in the former Downtown red-light district of Liberty Avenue - now the squeaky-clean heart of the Pittsburgh Cultural District.

Gill ran, among others, the Spartacus, the Japanese Meditation Temple and the Taurean massage parlors, according to the website Deadline.. A former blacksmith, Gill was known to drink and spout Irish poetry and once reportedly threw a birthday cake at an undercover state trooper during a raid at the Spartacus.

In 1984, she went on trial in federal court on tax evasion charges and served seven years in prison.

Johansson has starred in the highly successful “Avengers” movie franchise and also has appeared in the Iron Man and Captain America films. She’s slated to start production in February on “Rub and Tug, which has a budget of more than $30 million.

Photo: Getty Images.

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