HOW STAR WARS: EPISODE ONE ALMOST DESTROYED NATALIE PORTMAN’S CAREER
‘No director wanted to work with me!’ Natalie Portman reveals how her career was almost ruined by the Star Wars prequels
She played the role of Queen Amidala in all three Star Wars prequels.
And while the franchise was a hit sensation, Natalie Portman says the role nearly ruined her career.
In an interview with New York magazine, the 33-year-old revealed that after the performance “everyone thought I was a horrible actress”, which made it almost impossible to find another role because “no one director didn’t want to work with me”.
Natalie made the revelation in an article paying tribute to the late director Mike Nichols, with whom she first collaborated on the 2001 play Seagull and later in the 2004 film Closer.
“Star Wars was out in the days of Seagull and everyone thought I was a horrible actress,” she admitted.
“I was in the highest-grossing film of the decade and no director wanted to work with me. Mike wrote a letter to Anthony Minghella and said, “Put her in Cold Mountain, I’ll vouch for her.”
The actress landed the supporting role in Nicole Kidman’s film which she says led to a string of other pivotal performances.
“And then Anthony passed me on to Tom Tykwer, who passed me on to the Wachowskis,” she added of Paris, Je T’aime director Tykwer and V For Vendetta writers Andy and Lana. Wachowski.
Natalie won the Best Actress Oscar for the 2010 film Black Swan.
Meanwhile, the Thor star recently made headlines for a role she didn’t play as it was reported that she had dropped out of Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs biopic.
The mother-of-one was set to play the female lead opposite Michael Fassbender in the lead role.
She will next appear in Terrence Malick’s upcoming film Knight Of Cups alongside Christian Bale and Cate Blanchett.
