Natalie Portman, CANNOT act

Well, I am not saying this is true of her in real life but many times she comes off as being put out with acting.

What I mean to say, is that I get the feeling like when she is saying her lines that inside she is saying, and I am getting paid three million for this crap. Portman has a fairly high IQ, she goes to Harvard. At times again she comes off like she is very bored and thinks acting is a bit cheesy, that she maybe is wasting her time with it. So, she fakes her way through it and uses her looks to get by.

Well, that only works for so long, then as people see you in more roles, they can see through what is going on, and the looks will not cut it.

Some people say she has her nose in the air in real life<----I am not sure about that but, if she is faking it, like I think she is, it will catch up with her. Frankly, I think it has.

 

You don't have to defend Mark Hammil, he was my favorite actor probably out of all the SW folks. Lucas found the the perfect guy. In high school, everyone wanted to be Luke whenever we did a video project. His youthful innocence and brightness makes him attractive (in a different sense) and endearing. I'm so glad Mark didn't sleepwalk through this role, that's for sure.

As for famous actresses who are fans, you got me. I'm just assuming that there are so many who have seen SW and would've loved to potray the mother of Princess Leia. If not in Hollywood, perhaps there are amatuer actresses who are quite talented and have SEEN the films.

[edit -- On second thought. Didn't Rose Byrne or the actress that played Padme's sister say they loved Star Wars? I remember one of them said something in one of the documentaries. ]

 

Mark hamill gets mucho brownie points for being on Son of the beach and Jay and silen bob Strike back. Anyone who will make fun of themselves like that (except Gary Coleman, rotten little loser....) deserves respect. He does great with comic roles. So what if he is still pimping a job he finished 20 years ago? I love his luke jokes.

from the Simpsons:
Mayor Quimby: Protect me from these nerds, use the lightsaber.
Mark: Are you kidding? George Makes us pay for these you know.

 

Just because an actor has a couple of bad performances does not mean that they are a bad actor. Even the greatest actors have had a few misteps.

It's unfair to say that all of Natalie's good performances were in her childhood. A lot of critics praised Natalie for her performance in "Anywhere but Here", and she was even nominated for a golden globe for it. She still is very young and will have a good carrer ahead of her.

Besides, SW isn't known for having Oscar-winning performances. Harrison Ford may have done fine in his role as Han Solo, but you can't honestly say that it was the best role of his carrer.

 

Lurking_Around,

Um, Carrie Fisher? No? She's even offered to help GL write.

I meant for the role of Padme

 

Who cares... if natalie doesn't like sw or likes it... heh...funny...she made a joke on the rosie o'donnel show. she was in a car with her friends...and she saw a guy dressed in full jedi garments...and she said "Look- 3:00- Jedi." And she waved at the guy who was standing in line for SW. and um...hehehe..the guy was like WTH?? and then he realized that it was Natalie who waved at him. cool... I laughed so hard... and i smiled... She's sooo funny.

 

She could have easily said "look at that dork, let's point and laugh", but she apparently didn't.

 

Harrison Ford may have done fine in his role as Han Solo, but you can't honestly say that it was the best role of his carrer.

I've always considered Jack Ryan to be his best role. That or Indiana Jones. Or Richrd Kimble. Or....

 

^ Anakin Skywalker 20, Sounds like you are in love.

 

FatherVader: I saw another interview with Portman in Vogue. OK..this is a personal observation, but I think she is a bit of intellectual snob.

Her bf in that interview said: "I have never read that ( Russian/ Latin ) book in English." Meaning he only read in other translations. As for her, she said: George Lucas is antithesis of cynicism. Now, why on earth do you have to say this in "normal" interview?

I think you are right, she has her nose up in the air (i.e intellectual snobs).

Now, how this relate to her acting? She puts school first before acting.How do you improve your "crafts" if you don't try?

BTW: THIS IS JUST MHO, and like others here, I am entitled to my own opinion which you DO NOT have to agree with.

 

Lurking Around,
What I meant to say is that he layers special effects. In most special effects flicks, the special effects are the center of attention. In Aliens, you're not really looking at anything but the aliens, sure, there's an occassional scen from a ship, but that's just there to get the characters to the aliens.

In star wars, you've got Christopher Lee brandishing a light sabre, on the other side of him is cgi yoda with another lightsabre, you've got ships flying all over the place while droids are doing stuff in the background and twin suns and so forth.

That's George's strong point. Not directing actors. No one in the film industries seems to be touting his skill at directing actors, and they're the experts.

Frankly, I thought almost all the acting in both TPM and AOTC was flat in the first half, and improved quite a bit in the second half. Sounds like a production problem more than a problem with the actors. Singling out Natalie seems a little biased, as the actor who played ani was dead flat at times(not slamming him, like I said, I thought the problems were across the boards in the first half of the movies).

 

She puts school first before acting

Now that's smart. If she fails in acting, there might be other options.

 

LOL@ Lurking-around =)

She also said that she wanted full time job after graduation...so there you go.

I think Hayden should follow her steps. Just in case acting doesn't work for him..there will be a second option.

 

This is a reply to a post on page one. The one disagreeing with Lurking Around's statement of GL's shortcomings as a director Let me try to explain it...
Well with Hayden Christiansen aside (just because I have no other movies of his to base my opinion on), the cast are very good actors. In the case of Natalie Portman, you should see her in other roles, she's excellent, and she is highly commended for Broadway roles.
Now all these actors do the best they can for what they got. What they got, you ask? Not the best dialogue and not so good directing. Like in Episode 1 and even in some cases in Clones, people have commented on such actors as Samuel L. or Ewan McGregor, and have said that they weren't at their USUAL level of acting and they weren't too good in this. Now if they do a good performence in most of their roles and all of them end up being off some when they go to do Star Wars, I think that says something about the director.
Take some of Anakin's scenes for example. He did good at acting them out, and his emotion was very believable. I have every reason to think he's a good actor. However, alot of his dialogue or responses to things didn't seem natural in certain situations or scenes. You can tell the way he brings out these emotions that he's capable of acting very well, but with these scenes that are kind of shakey or don't come across very natural, it seems he didn't the proper directing for the scene, his "motivation" if you will.
It seems as though George just sees some good emotion and says, "Excellent! Very nice!" and doesn't look at how it really works in context. I don't blame him on some of those scenes, being as that many things have to filled in later with effects, sometimes it's hard to have the entire scene figured. Well as having some acting experience I understand the difficulty of bringing out a role sometimes, especially if you don't have the right directing.
In closing I just say check out her other movies, she isn't a terrible actor, and as far as Hayden Christiansen goes I think he looks like a good actor and I look forward to seeing some of his future films.

 

Being able to speak in a different language or a few of them does not mean you have a high IQ. I mean if you are shown how to speak a different language at a young age, or work very hard on learning them you can pick it up just like that.


I was just saying that maybe her mind it not being pushed when she acts. She does not need to think that much.


If she does get out of the Biz, I could understand why she is not acting as well as she did when she was younger. Maybe she has come to see that acting is not right for her?

 

"In closing I just say check out her other movies, she isn't a terrible actor"

I agree! The bold I made BTW

 

Are you guys seriously suggesting that Lucas should have only cast an actress who was already a Star Wars fan as Padme? Lucas has always said that he casts people to fit the roles, and Natalie has that regal and detached quality that is a big part of Padme Amidala's character. Besides, we all know girls don't like Star Wars anyway
I'm not saying Natalie isn't flat in some scenes (she is, but then so is Hayden and even Ewan sometimes) but she's believable as Padme, she looks good, and she can carry a blaster. What more do you need?
Okay, what about the picnic scene? I think that contains some of the most naturalistic acting found in a Star Wars film yet. I didn't find anything flat about Padme discussing her first boyfriend, or her politics debate with Anakin. That was the best part of the romance for me. And she delivers the "aggressive negotiations" line just as well as Carrie Fisher would have done.
Natalie is NOT the problem with the prequels (if there is a problem).

BTW, Gilgamesh, I find your lack of faith disturbing. Everyone is not going to start bashing AOTC in a few months, as much as you would like that to be the case. In fact, by the time the DVD comes out, I bet AOTC's reputation will improve.

 

The only decent movie Natalie has been in since The Professional was HEAT with DeNiro and Pachino! Mars Attacks, Episode 1 & 2 , etc.... etc... she was horrible.

 

And she wasn't good in HEAT either. Do you recall the scene where she started to cry because she couldn't find her barrets?

STELLAR stuff, ladies.

 

Are you guys seriously suggesting that Lucas should have only cast an actress who was already a Star Wars fan as Padme?

I certainly wouldn't agree to this. Again, have there been any actresses aroung Nat's age who have publicly stated that they are SW fans ?

 

Drew Barrymore.

 

Anyone with a brain knows that Anna Paquin is a better actress than Natalie Portman.

Anna would've been perfect as Padme. She brings life and emotion to her characters. Also, shes been in some really good movies!

The Piano (won an Oscar)
Amistad
Hurlyburly
Finding Forrester
Almost Famous
X-Men

Look at that list! Look at all the wonderful actors she learned from! Look at all the director's she worked with. Excellent! Plus, shes hotter.

 

Really??? Well, I can see Barrymore as Padme....

Actually no. Has to be someone with dark hair



Anna Paquin: YES!!!!!!

 

OMG. An epiphany. Thank you, Robert.

See, all you of guys keep whining and yapping because Natalie sucked. Well there's an idea. Anna Paquin. Someone could have thought about that sooner.

*Rolls eyes*

 

<EHM> I happened to like Anna Paquin.

She is a great actress!