Natalie Portman’s role as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequels led everyone to think she was a bad actress.
After Natalie Portman’s impressive debut in Luc Besson’s Leon, Hollywood seemed wide open to the 13-year-old actress.
When she was cast in George Lucas’ highly anticipated Star Wars prequel series, it seemed like her big break had arrived – but no one could have predicted exactly what she was getting herself into.
The movies (Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith) were a box office success, and people loved Samuel Jackson’s purple lightsaber – but they didn’t seem to love much else.
From Jar-Jar Binks to Hayden Christensen’s Anakin, the Star Wars prequels have been pretty much universally ridiculed. Even actors who gave it their all, Portman and Ewan McGregor included, suffered from their association with the franchise.
Speaking to New York Magazine, Portman reveals that she struggled to find work after Star Wars.
“Everyone thought I was a horrible actress,” she says. “I was in the biggest-grossing movie of the decade, and no director wanted to work with me”.
The article remembers legendary director Mike Nichols, who passed away last month.
Portman credits Nichols with saving her career, because he vouched for her acting abilities and got other directors to give her a chance.
“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” for V for Vendetta, Portman recalls.
Here’s hoping the new Star Wars cast won’t suffer the same fate!
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