PT Natalie Portman on Star Wars prequels: no director wanted to work with me afterwards

Ha, Guinness did come across as a bit of a butthead at times (I recall that letter to a friend where he was kind of making fun of Ford's first name).

 

Has nothing to do with sexism. I brought this up because I wanted to know your opinion on that. The fact is that not every actor finds your favorite movie to be their favorite. There's nothing wrong with that, nor does it make them elitist snobs. And while in Portman's case she won awards doesn't mean much, because if no one is wanting to hire you, and you're told it's for a specific reason, then there's little else that can be done. Except in this case, have a veteran director go to bat on his own volition. It wasn't because of her academic scheduling since she was able to do a play where she first met Nichols that was the cause. If her agent put her out there for a film and a director passed because he thought her acting in TPM stunk to high heaven, then how is that whining on her part? It's not the only time a director will pass on someone. Actress Jensen Daggett had once auditioned for a role in an Oliver Stone film, but when he read that she was in "Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan" which was her most recent acting credit, he said, "Oh, you were in one of those" and promptly dismissed her.

Hollywood directors can be quite finicky.

 

Bah, she's full of it.

It only takes a quick glance at IMDB to see she was working before, during, and after Star Wars.

 

Maybe she doesn't either. In any case, what was the point of WHINING about how the prequels "almost ruined her career" and no one wanted to work with her, when she could just as easily said something a more general: "Mike helped me out during a difficult time in my life and career."

And she could have put it just that way: "Mike helped me out during a difficult time in my life and career." If she doesn't know that bringing up the prequels would be a lightning rod (and I doubt that, since she blames them for the so-called lapse in her career), then she's even more clueless and sheltered than I thought. Which wouldn't surprise me, given how she seems to be blithely unaware of anything that occurs beyond her pampered, privileged circle. Like how mere mortals often have far more profound struggles than she thinks she has had and didn't get an A-list director to "vouch" for them. She has everything, always has had everything, and has always been sheltered from anything resembling adversity. Maybe she could recognize that instead of whining about a brief lapse in her employment that really wasn't. It doesn't matter if the romantic comedies were made before TPM. They still came out after, and helped fill the so-called "gap."

My dislike of her, or hatred if you prefer, has been in place a long time. Since the beginning of her career, or almost. I always thought she was a grossly overrated actress who got obscene amounts of slack cut for her because a) she was fortunate enough to have as her debut a role that was perfectly tailored to her strengths; and b) she was pretty and elegant-looking. Later, she got slack cut for her because "the prequels ruined her." Seems to me that, despite her thinking the prequels hurt her career, they actually helped it, and not just because they kept her visible: they gave critics, et al the perfect excuse to keep absolving her for her own crappy acting. And the more evidence piled up that she just wasn't that fabulous an actress, the more contortions critics, et al went into to absolve her. Her life and career have been supremely charmed, and it annoys me when someone to whom success has come so easily doesn't appreciate or even recognize it.

I also think she's a colossal hypocrite in her personal life, but that is somewhat beside the point.

And every time I have dared to criticize her, I got accused of "jealousy." I'm not jealous of her. She doesn't have a damn thing that I want. And I don't CARE if she doesn't consider the prequels her favorite movies. I don't either, when it comes to that, although darth-sinister assumed so. I just think she could display a little more gratitude and a little more judiciousness when she speaks.

 

I think the same could be said for you. You keep bashing her saying the same things without really displaying why that's so it does make your vehemence seem displaced.

 

I'm not a famous, privileged, worshipped movie star with an Oscar and a lapdog press. When I had a gap in my career, it was real, and I didn't have a famous director rushing to vouch for me -- nor did I have an obscene amount of money (her paychecks, and her rich family) to fall back on as she did. If I talk about my rough patch, I just get shrugs, instead of all of creation rushing to heap sympathy on me.

I've displayed why I dislike her many times. Reject it or call it unfair all you like but I've provided it. I usually have trouble mustering much empathy for the privilege-cushioned elite when they complain about what they think are their struggles.

Funny how threads that are full of vitriol directed at Lucas, Hayden Christensen, etc. are perfectly okay.

As far as I know, I've never crossed paths even distantly with Portman, nor has my cat. I simply do not care for her and never did, and she doesn't help with her foot-in-mouth disease.