Natalie Portman, CANNOT act

Leon was a great film, and Portman's performance helps make it so interesting. Just because she is cast in boring movies that I don't want to see doesn't make her a bad actress.

Maybe Portman is bored with the AOTC script, or maybe she is acting exactly the way Lucas wanted her to! In the end, you should probably blame Lucas, because he was the one who cast her (and Jake Lloyd over that OTHER kid in the documentary who was like 500,000 thousand times better) and gave her the lines, and directed her performance. It was also Lucas who decided that her performance was "good enough" for the final product.

Although I can't describe myself as a "Kubrick fan", Stanley K took responsibility for every aspect of his actors' performances. Most of his films are criticized for reasons other than bad acting. A Clockwork Orange has excellent performances all around, even by Vader himself, David Prowse!

Lucas often settles for what he believes to be good enough, and what an audience might not consider to be good enough. For whatever reason, Lucas doesn't give himself the luxury of going late on a film. Every movie is released in May three years after the previous installment. There are indeed sacrifices of quality. I guess this is why the films have so many different reworked "versions".

But if Lucas is in complete creative control of all aspects of the SW story, isn't it only fair that we blame him if some part of the films aren't great? Like, let's say, "whoopee" or the droid factory sequence?

 

Well, I have studied acting, and while I'll admit that Natalie Portman's acting in Attack of the Clones is a huge improvement on The Phantom Menace, her performance wasn't that great. The impression that I get from Natalie Portman is that really, she's quite embarrassed about being in Star Wars, and would rather be doing something more interesting. I think there are one or two interviews I've read with her where she's pretty much comfirmed that. In any case, could people please respect each other's opinions, even if you disagree with it? Dismissing what somebody says as being laughable does not come off as being a well constructed argument, and makes the person who said it appear rather silly.

 

natalie portman is doing "theater acting"

it is a different type of acting. it is more artistic and expressive, and that what star wars is. watch labyrinth and notice the similarities between her and the girl in that movie.

romeo and juliet...thats it.

people say thats bad acting too.

whats the point anyways? trash her?

 

I think she is perfect for the part of Amidala and would not want any other actress playing the character.

True, she's not the best she could be, but she's still very good considering what she was given to work with.

And hey, it's Star Wars. Who cares about acting ??????????

 

"...Natalie Portman's acting in Attack of the Clones is a huge improvement on The Phantom Menace..."

Yeah, that's my impression too. Heck, that's how I feel about Ewan as well. Both of them improved in AOTC. Could they do better? Yup. Their other films proved this.

Just MHO

 

"natalie portman improved her acting"

again. no education ..


first of all. natalie portman did not act better in episode 2 than in episode 1.


what really happened is that padme grew up and fell in love. she was supposed to act like that in episode 1. have ever of you ever meet any royalty? they are that way. not like everyone else.

in episode 2 the character evolved....not natalie portman. ok

where are the mods. this needs to be locked.

 

"have ever of you ever meet any royalty? they are that way. not like everyone else."

Ah, tell that to the British Royal Family!

*runs away*

 

Err...not to sound like Anakin Skywalker, homeless_jedi, but I have plenty of 'education' when it comes to analysing performances in films, and acting in general. Infact, I have an exam on Performance and Screen Acting next week, so I think, judging by the type of grades I'm getting, I do have a rather good idea of what I'm talking about, thank you very much.

 

Look at Leon/the professional, then vomit. Her acting in Leon is not worth commenting on as she has slightly matured in the time between, yes it was good child acting, but then again anything in that film would seem good compared to the rest of the film, it was probably worse than most people thought TPM was.
Take a good example of a film with her in, Beautiful Girls and you can see that she can act.
Hayden can't on the other hand, which accompanied with having to act in front of a blue screen made her acting seem poor.

 

A question: does this mean poor lay people like me who's just a regular movie goer can't make comments on acting 'cos I don't take any special courses?

 

Look, we all are entitled to our own opinion, some of us liked her "acting" and others don't.

As simple as that.

 

It's a Star Wars movie, what do you guys expect? This isn't a tradtional drama, if you want to see Natalie act watch 'Mars Attacks.' She was really good in 'Where the Heart Is' and 'Leon', check em' both out.

 

Egads, I actually agree with Homeless Jedi.

Homeless your right on all acounts 'bout this one.

 

Lurking_around: Yup.. poor us. We are just regular moviegoer.. I guess that discredit our ability to comment? =)

 

"A question: does this mean poor lay people like me who's just a regular movie goer can't make comments on acting 'cos I don't take any special courses?"

Well, I think that everyone's opinion's on here are perfectly valid, (especially Lurking_Around for the nice things he said about my rewrite ) and anybody who starts thrusting their edution down other people's throats is really demonstrating that they can't take any difference of opinion. The only reason why I mentioned studying films and acting was because I wanted to show that really it doesn't effect people's opinions in any degree at all.

 

Natalie's performance in "The Professional" was one of the best I've seen by a child actor. Luc Besson, I think, let her be herself in some fundamental way, and at the time she must have been utterly fearless.

At some point, however, Natalie Portman became poised. Her poise I think suggests an unwillingness to take risks. Part of the problem may have been when she took the part of Ann Frank on Broadway. They tried to train the Long Island accent out of her voice. Somehow, they drained away a big chunk of her appeal as well. Her performances in Where the Heart is and Anywhere but Here, her big dramatic roles to-date, were unbelievably timid.

Whatever that spark was in "The Professional", I'd call it fearlessness, it seems to be gone. She gets quoted as saying she couldn't act in TPM because she was unhappy. The concept that good acting is a natural result of being happy is ludicrous, and a truly passionate actor would never make a statement like that. Maybe a better actor would have tried to channel that unhappiness.

All her recent performances suggest someone who doesn't really have a passion for acting. She's an actress now because of that one fearless role before she came to an understanding that she doesn't really care about acting. To be honest, I think she does it now because the opportunities are there, not because she wants to act. Because circumstances have put her in a position to get parts, she takes them. But she doesn't want it to interfere with her life.

 

She is not a great actress, but then again neither was, or is, Carrie Fisher. The lack of charm in the character of Padme, however, fails to replicate the endearing nature of Leia, who was charm personified.

 

yeah thats it.

 

Acting is not about showing that you can convincingly cry, scream, shout, laugh etc. Being able to turn on the waterworks (ie.cry) doesn't make you a good actor. Being able to show a huge range of emotions does not neccesarily make you a good actor. Acting is about portraying a character. And if that character is mature and reserved, and Amadala-ish, then that's how they should be played. Natalie has done a fine job as Amadala. She's written like that, that's how she's meant to be played.

 

Jabbadabbado, yours is probably the most objective and best post in this thread! Well done!

Well, I think that everyone's opinion's on here are perfectly valid, (especially Luring_Around for the nice things he said about my rewrite )

Heh heh

 

Well, she also said that she felt like a ***** in that movie. She didn't feel like kissing Hayden: which she thought was a friend rather than lover.

I dunno.. but I think that is unprofessional statement.

EDIT: Watch that language.

 

thank you little jedi..that is exactly what I was saying. if amidala is that way...then natalie portman should be that way. blame padme not poor nat.

by the way me and nat danced when we meet in rosarito beach for spring break. she can move

 

As someone once said, one of the indispensable qualities of an actor is an ability to communicate the joy he or she takes in their performance. Whereas you see that in, for example, Christopher Lee's performance; you get to see none of that in Portman's.

 

The Professional - good
Mars Attacks - ok
Beautiful Girls - horrendous
Where the Heart Is - horrid
Anywhere But Here - putrid
The Phantom Menace - God awful
Attack of the Clones - less God awful

Here's the bag that Natalie can't act out of.

 

Well, I'll say she doesn't look comfortable in the role. Her other movies are better proof of her acting abilities. Whether it's her or George's directing, ultimately it's Natalie the audience watches. If it's George's directing, it's the actor that looks bad in the end anyway. But I do keep waiting for her to say, "This is stupid. I wanna go to a mall.". She doesn't seem to extend her imagination into the Star Wars Universe and make it believable.

There were reports that Natalie was a little prissy (on any movie, not just Star Wars). If these rumours are true, sometimes it's hard for prissy people to extend their imagination into the realms of fantasy and sci-fi. If it's not reality, they can't deal with it. And tehy ahve trouble dealing with that if it doesn't cater to them.

And studying acting doesn't mean squat! There are a lot of actors who are natural and a lot who are booksmart and keep reverting back to what they learned in Chapter 2 of HOW TO ACT in 2nd Semester Drama Class. And Natalie is only into acting because of an Uncle, from my understanding. Not because she's TRULY interested in it. She has a family memeber in the business.