The actress has angrily dismissed claims that her steamy sex scene in new movie The Black Dahlia is an unnecessary distraction.

In the film, Johansson enjoys a sizzling romp with Hartnett and critics have complained they found it difficult to concentrate following the raunchy scene.

"Of course it's nice to be considered sexy, as a young woman in my prime. But I try not to think about the sexiness. "And I never think about it being distracting from a scene," Contactmusic quoted her, as saying.

The 21-year-old beauty plays the woman caught between cops Josh Hartnett and Aaron Eckhart, who are investigating the real-life unsolved murder of a wannabe actress whose mutilated body was discovered in Los Angeles in 1947.