Scarlett Johansson turns snake expert after new movie

Scarlett Johansson has become a snake expert after she encountered a number of serpents in her new movie We Bought a Zoo.

In the film, Matt Damon plays a widower whose new property comes with a zoo, where the animals are looked after by the Lost in Translation star.

The comedy drama required the two Hollywood A-listers to get up close and personal with a range of wild animals - but Johansson is adamant she loved mixing with the exotic creatures and learned a lot about their habits while on set.

“We had to recapture an escaping shipment of all kinds of exotic snakes, such as pythons and anacondas. You don’t go on to a film set knowing you’re going to put 70 snakes in a bucket and think this is a normal job. But you do it, you get in there.” the Daily Express quoted her as telling You magazine.

“You just pick it up and throw it - or gently place it - in a bucket. If you don’t want to pick it up yourself, you can always bend a wire clothes hanger and use it like a hook to pick it up,” she said.

She was also asked how she would deal with a rattlesnake in the wild.

“I would not want to get too close before I could identify what it was. But if it was not venomous, I would have handled it. You can pick it up anywhere. A snake is just a big muscle really,” she said.