Scarlett gets a little help from some old friends for first pop video

Salman Rushdie's penchant for glamorous younger women, and Scarlett Johansson's expressed preference for older men, seem to have found a happy if bizarre union in a music video released to publicise the actress's foray into pop.

As reported by The First Post earlier this year, the 23-year-old actress has taken up singing. After her appearance on the Yes We Can hip-hop video supporting Barack Obama, Johansson has now produced an album, Anywhere I Lay My Head, featuring her versions of several Tom Waits songs.

The video for her first single, Falling Down, depicts a day in the life of a Hollywood star, showing Scarlett in the make-up studio, in front of the cameras - and having the bearded author of The Satanic Verses nuzzling her neck and whispering in her ear, to her apparent delight.

It remains a mystery how the 60-year-old novelist's cameo came about, though Johansson, who at 19 starred opposite 53-year-old Bill Murray in Lost in Translation, has not been shy about her attraction to older men. "I'm often told I appeal to older men more than guys my own age," she once said. "I think that's pretty cool. Older men understand women more. They usually have better taste. I take it as a compliment."

Despite roping in another oldster, David Bowie, to sing backing vocals, reaction to Johansson's pop debut has been mixed, with some American critics suggesting she stick to acting.