Few actresses can say they started as child performers working with some of the best talent and grew up to earn an Oscar and a Harvard degree while starring in the two most successful and influential franchise in film history. Not everyone is Natalie Portman. Portman became a household name in her teens and transitioned into adulthood without falling into some of the pitfalls and traps of the business.
From her first on-screen appearance in Luc Besson's action drama Léon: The Professional, there is something about Portman that makes her unique among her peers. Even as a young performer, Portman pursued projects that reflected her feminist stance. The perfect combination between independent dramas and blockbusters became the trademark of her early years, leading the way for the second stage of her career, where she is one of Hollywood's most respected and bankable actresses.
Two roles that proved her intensity as an actress are the best representation of her childhood. The maturity that has always distinguished her performances is showcased in the first part. Portman conveys tragedy without seeming depressed. She overwhelms the film with a sense of innocence and drive that makes her the perfect antidote to Jean Reno and Gary Oldman.
Portman plays a small but important supporting role as Al Pacino's suicidal stepdaughter in Michael Mann's Heat. According to Mann, Portman was capable of portraying someone who was not overt hysteria. The description captures the essence of a Portman performance. Portman has been delivering gripping and moving work without succumbing to the theatrics that could so easily go hand in hand with some of her roles since she was a child. She is skilled at conveying emotion in a variety of ways.
Portman was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in Closer. Portman is a stripper with substance and is a male fantasy. Alice is both sexy and cynical. Portman is a master at communicating the sense of wonder and fascination that makes it easy to believe Jude Law would find Alice irresistible. Closer earned Portman her first Golden Globe and first Oscar nomination.
Closer was the beginning of her career. Portman took everything she had learned from playing wise-beyond- their-age characters in films such as Beautiful Girls, Anywhere But Here, and Where the Heart Is and delivered her most ambitious and nuanced performance up to that point.
Portman wasn't always in control. There's enough exploitation out there that it's not necessary to do more of that." Portman did not want to be seen as an old soul, but as an adult child hybrid who was more comfortable around adults than people her age. Portman told Dax Shepard that she had to act conservative and serious at a time when she didn't feel safe around older men.
Every fan wonders if the Star Wars prequels are good. A simple "yes" or "no" is not enough to answer the question. Is it enough to overcome their many flaws? Portman is the emotional catalyst in the first two entries. She is the heart of Attack of the Clones. Portman was the right choice to play a young queen thrown into a war for which she is vastly underprepared. In The Phantom Menace, she is portrayed as a girl and her bond with young Anakin is that of distant cousins trying to find common ground.
Portman filmed Attack of the Clones during her summer break. While the first film tried to infantilize her, the sequel goes out of its way to portray her as a young woman, dressing her in more provocative outfits and forcing a love story with the grown ups. There isn't much on the page to sell their doomed romance, but Portman does her best with the material. Their chemistry isn't as bad as critics claimed, and they're not Gigli and Ricki.
Padmé and Anakin are just as good as any other couple. The far, far away has never been known for its romances. Love isn't the franchise's strength. It is possible that their bond is more important to the story than any of the other affairs. Portman came back briefly for her character to die.
Portman had a big part in the evolution of Star Wars. Thanks to Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, Michael Bay's Transformers series, and Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight, the decade saw the rise of the modern blockbuster. This revolution showcased the spectacle and can't-miss-factor that would become modern franchises' bread-and-butter. Portman proved she could open a film at the box office as quickly as she could win an award for it.
Black Swan was the start of a new chapter in Portman's career. Portman takes on the role of the demure and perfectionist Nina Sayers in the movie Black Swan. The actress delivered a tour-de-force performance that embodied all of the fears and insecurities of the character. Portman has a career and persona that is overprotected and infantilized and she has to live someone else's dream. Portman won the Best Actress Oscar in 2010 for her performance.
Portman continued to experiment with different roles and genres. Her directorial debut, A Tale of Love and Darkness, and the first THOR movie worked, while No Strings Attached didn't. Critics and audiences didn't give up on Portman when she was trying to branch out Even the most basic and crude films were raised by the actress because of her sense of dignity.
After years of slumming it in mediocre flicks, Portman was back to her best. The most challenging moment in Kennedy's life was brought to life by Portman's performance. Portman's accent and mannerisms don't match her real life. Like all her best roles, the actress finds meaning and power in the quiet moments of the character, letting the audience know there is more going on inside.
Portman starred in Alex Garland's ambitious sci-fi masterpiece Annihilation as well as Brady Corbet's musical drama "Vox Lux" It has a similar audacity and extravagance that few actresses would dare attempt, let alone be allowed to get away with, according to The Telegraph's review of the film. Portman is part of a group of actresses who are willing to risk and leave everything on the line in order to make a movie. They are always in service of the story and never at the expense of the character.
Portman is back in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Taika Waititi's colorful and unrestrained THOR: LOVE AND THUD. The appeal of the film is immediately apparent as Jane Foster takes center stage and becomes the new incarnation of the mythical hammer and tongs. Portman embodies the right mix between strength and vulnerability, and she bulked up considerably to fit in with Taika Waititi. Portman should have been the hero of Iron Man and Cap, instead she is the hero of a different character, the god of thunder.
Over the course of nearly 30 years, Natalie Portman has created unforgettable characters. Hollywood has never been afraid of giving her enough room to experiment and she has made the best of it. As she went from troubled stripper to elegant first lady, Portman never stayed in her comfort zone.
There are two miniseries in the works, one of which will feature Portman and Moore. There is no word on whether she will return for a fifth movie in the ongoing THOR saga, but one thing is certain: the MCU needs her more than she needs it.
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