MILAN — Prada is acting as a cinematic matchmaker for the latest iteration of its leather goods campaign dedicated to the signature Galleria handbag.

The Italian luxury brand has conscripted Oscar-nominated actress Scarlett Johansson, a regular of Prada Galleria campaigns, and breakthrough director Yorgos Lanthimos, marking the first time the pair work together on a project.

Johansson returns as the face of the Galleria bag for the third time, after previous installments of the campaign in 2024 and 2023, directed by British screenwriter and director Jonathan Glazer and Venezuelan-American artist Alex Da Corte, respectively.

The 2025 short movie — titled “Ritual Identities” — leans on the surreal and symbolism-rich oeuvre of Lanthimos who captures the actress impersonating three different characters within archetypal settings of contemporary life.

“This Prada campaign really comes from Yorgos’ unique mind and whatever magic is created between the two of us as artists. The performance — the collaboration — is opened up. This process of discovery is what makes any creative collaboration special,” Johansson told WWD. “Filmic shorts like this are a playful collaboration for actors and directors — it gives us an opportunity to work together in a different manner. You get to dip into somebody’s mind, their way of working, explore their world,” she said.

Although the movie is up for multiple interpretations, the storyline seems to center on Johansson playing some sort of guru, who provides a recipe for what’s apparently a potion, the ingredients of which include morning breeze, rainwater that drips from a non-blooming cherry tree, whispers of dead loved ones’ names and feather of a chirping bird, which she bills as non-necessary, though.

Johansson also performs as the recipient of such recipe and is seen strolling around a metropolis — could be New York, although the brand didn’t specify — in search of the ingredients which she fills her Galleria bag with. The short movie ends with a third Johansson-interpreted character emerging, Frankenstein-like, from a life-size metallic sphere placed at the center of a townhouse’s salon.

The movie, Prada said, reflects not only the Galleria’s many iterations over the years, as well as the multiple styles offered every season, but it also “investigates the fluidity of the persona.”

“The idea for this Prada campaign is a play on identity, the identities that live within all of us, the different masks we wear, the different characters we play, the different people we are with other people, in different relationships,” Johansson explained. “The work becomes personally meaningful because you start to really feel it as you’re saying it, it starts to live more inside you — and then, you can really explore. This film is less about assuming a character, more about expressing different versions of myself,” she said.

Throughout her career, Johansson has embraced many different characters and proved her skills in embodying different identities from famously interpreting Charlotte in the 2003 blockbuster “Lost in Translation,” for which she won a BAFTA award, to becoming the IRL face of Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s “Iron Man 2.” She has nabbed two Academy Award nominations for her roles in the drama “Marriage Story” and the satire “Jojo Rabbit.”

Johansson has had a busy first half of the year and was seen donning Prada ensembles while touring for the promotional tour of “Jurassic World Rebirth.” The Hollywood actress also marked her directorial debut this year with the drama movie “Eleanor the Great,” which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last May. She attended the screening in a Sable Prada dress and later changed into a light blue chiffon number for the “A Private Life” red carpet.

The video campaign — which is flanked by imagery captured by Lanthimos, also an accomplished photographer — marks the first time the Greek director, producer and screenwriter collaborates with Prada.

A five-time Academy Award nominee and recipient of many accolades including a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, and the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival, among others, Lanthimos is known for his distinctively unconventional narratives in such movies as “The Lobster,” “The Favourite,” ”Poor Things,” and “Kinds of Kindness,” among others. He recently premiered his latest movie, “Bugonia,” at the 82nd edition of the Venice International Film Festival last month.

The Prada Galleria, first conceived in 2007, remains among Prada’s bestsellers as one of the luxury brand’s carryover designs. The bag was originally offered in Saffiano leather — a scratch- and water-resistant calfskin defined by a crosshatched surface texture, a material patented by Mario Prada and still a leitmotif of the brand today, created via an intricate hot-pressing process; raw edges are smoothed and hand-painted to match.

Prada launched its first campaign focused on the Galleria bag in 2021, back then fronted by Hunter Schafer, and directed by Canadian actor, film director and screenwriter filmmaker Xavier Dola.