Actors and actresses have the darnedest time escaping roles that go on to become larger than life. In a recent interview with New York Magazine, Natalie Portman expressed how she was a living testament to said hardship when she revealed that her portrayal of Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequels almost ended her career in Hollywood as we know it.
Portman wasn’t going out of her way on a self-loathing diatribe in the new revelation. On the contrary, New York pieced together a celebrity eulogical piece dedicated to the memory of acclaimed director Mike Nichols, who passed away this past November at the age of 83. In fact, according to Portman, it was he who plucked her from casting purgatory and referred her name down the line for eventual career revival on 2006’s V For Vendetta.
“Star Wars had come out … and everyone thought I was a horrible actress,” she remembered. I was in the biggest-grossing movie of the decade, and no director wanted to work with me. Mike wrote a letter to Anthony Minghella and said, ‘Put her in Cold Mountain, I vouch for her.’ And then Anthony passed me on to Tom Tykwer, who passed me on to the Wachowskis.”
Of course, Portman’s story has unfolded in happy ending. She won a Best Actress Academy Award for her part as The Swan Queen in 2010’s Black Swan and is now a part of the extremely lucrative Marvel film franchise via Thor.
The New York Mike Nichols article also features insight from the likes of Julia Roberts and Robert Redford. Read it here.
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Photo: LucasFilm
