Scarlett Johansson can usually be relied upon to bring a touch of glamour wherever she goes.

So her new role as a zoo keeper in Cameron Crowe’s We Bought A Zoo may give audiences a bit of a surprise.

New pictures from the set,  show the actress looking a little more rough and ready than usual.

In a stark contrast to her roles in films such as Iron Man 2 and The Prestige it appears that Scarlett isn’t going to appear as the ravishing seductress we’re used to.

The actress looked far more down to earth wearing boots, a dark green shirt and unstyled hair.

Nevertheless, the minimal makeup meant that Scarlett’s natural beauty still shone through.

The film, also starring Matt Damon and Super 8’s Ellie Fanning tells the true story of a father who moves his family to the countryside to renovate and re-open a struggling zoo following the death of his wife.

The plot is based on a true story, from a book of the same name by Benjamin Mee.

An uplifting tale of triumph against the odds, the narrative follows a widower (Benjamin Mee, played by Damon) as he struggles to keep the zoo open.

Over the course of time, he is also able to to reconnect with his bereaved children.

Writing on his blog, director Cameron Crowe said he was especially touched when he read Mee’s book and watched a documentary about his experience, which Crowe found ‘largely personal’.

Though the true story took place in England, Crowe made the decision to relocate to California, which he stressed was with ‘a thumbs up’ from Mee.

The director joked that Jamie Foxx, who lives close to Greenfield Ranch location, outside Westlake Village where the film was set, was ‘tracking our movie through binoculars’.

Crowe also said that he had been keen to work with Matt Damon, and preferred that the American cast use their own accents.

Scarlett’s next project, a superhero flick directed by Joss Whedon (of Buffy The Vampire Slayer success) should see a return to her usual sultry self.

We Bought A Zoo will be released in the UK on 23rd December.