Seemingly the embodiment of conservatism, she exchanged a carefree childhood for the instability of the acting profession, changed her real name to a pseudonym, made her debut in directing at the top of her career, and becoming a movie star, she entered Harvard, and not at all at the film faculty. Meeting with Natalie Portman, a determined person and … budding child psychologist.
It is strange that here, in Venice, she does not dissolve among the equally petite, dark-haired and pretty Italian girls. Natalie Portman is at the festival in Venice, while the festival venues on the Lido Island are adjacent to the beach, and even the sophisticated public allows themselves to relax. Walk, for example, in shorts and desperate sundresses. But Natalie is not. She doesn’t relax. And don’t mix with the crowd. She is serious, albeit somehow girlish: a dress with “lanterns” and flounces, no neckline, shoes, not sandals, and high heels … no, in the case of Natalie – heels. Because everything in it is miniature, elegant and appeals to diminutive word forms. I look at her sitting cross-legged in the interview room, at the smooth movements of her little hands, at her shoulders, at her curls, at her calm smile, at her make-up, which doesn’t really suit her—not her baby face… She looks adult focused and attentive. But she is small. She has balanced judgments and strong views. But the look is intriguing. Not judging at all. Natalie Portman is reserved and, apparently, naturally silent. But he does answer questions. Natalie Portman is a very well mannered person. Hence the professional reactions at press conferences, readiness to meet with journalists, visible openness in conversation. But about colleagues – only respectfully, about university teachers and directors – only enthusiastically.
Everything about her is so correct, so measured, so deliberate… But somewhere deep in this miracle of correctness and refined manners irony and causticity are hidden, that’s for sure. Otherwise, where would her “Evening” come from, her directorial debut, a short film with which she came to Venice – in a new status, not a star, but a full-fledged filmmaker? Where could this plot come from (and Natalie wrote the script herself) – about a girl who comes to visit an elderly grandmother, and that granddaughter’s visit, as it turns out, is completely inopportune: the grandmother, you see, has a date and an affair … In an attempt to find this one, another Natalie Portman and I begin our conversation.
Private bussiness
- 1981 Born in Jerusalem, Israel, to an Israeli father and an American mother.
- 1984 The family moves to the USA.
- 1994 Debuts in the short film Marie Cohn Developing; starring role in Luc Besson’s León.
- 1996 Everyone Says I Love You by Woody Allen; “Mars attacks!” Tim Burton.
- 1997 Plays the role of Anne in the Broadway production of The Diary of Anne Frank.
- 1998 Becomes an activist in the non-governmental organization FINCA International (Foundation for International Community Assistance).
- 1999 Star Wars 1: The Phantom Menace by George Lucas; enters Harvard in the psychology department and graduates in 2003.
- 2001 Dating actor Lukas Haas; plays the role of Nina Zarechnaya in Mike Nichols’ The Seagull, where her partners are Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline.
- 2002 Star Wars 2: Attack of the Clones.
- 2003 “Cold Mountain” by Anthony Minghella; romance with actor Gael Garcia Bernal.
- 2004 Closeness by Mike Nichols; for half a year at Hebrew University (Jerusalem) he studies Hebrew and the culture of the Middle East.
- 2005 “V for Vendetta” by James McTeague, for which Natalie shaves her head; romance with Israeli actor Liron Livo; Star Wars 3: Revenge of the Sith.
- 2006 “Ghosts of Goya” by Miloš Forman.
- 2007 Films a short story in the film almanac “New York, I love you”; an affair with fashion designer Nathan Bogle; participates in Animal Planet’s documentary “Gorillas on the Edge” to draw attention to the plight of mountain gorillas in Rwanda; “My Blueberry Nights” by Wong Kar Wai; Darjeeling Train by Wes Anderson.
- 2008 “The Other Boleyn Girl” by Justin Chadwick; begins a serious relationship with Devendra Banhart, a neo-folk musician and singer, starring in his ironic video “Carmencita”; establishes his own film company Handsomecharlie Films (“Handsome Charlie”, in honor of her dead dog) and as a producer begins shooting the comedy “17 Photos of Isabelle” (directed by Don Rus); how the designer is working on a line of shoes that he calls “vegetarian” – natural leather is not used in its manufacture; Starring in Jim Sheridan’s The Brothers.
Psychologies: Natalie, judging by your interview, everything in your life is very correct: wonderful dad and mom, wonderful relationships, luxurious education, exemplary behavior. You live alone, but close to your parents. Vegetarian, do not smoke, not involved in scandals. In a word, you are an excellent student in everything. Isn’t it boring?
Natalie Portman: I’m tired of reading about myself! But I didn’t sign up to deliver thrills to the public, did I? What makes you think that a person from the cinema should also serve the audience off the screen, providing her emotional leisure with hot news about herself? I’m not right, I’m the way I am. But I’m really by nature … conservative. And I don’t like to… how shall I put it… disturbing others. I often please. Not because I want to please, but precisely because I love peace around. But do not think, my own conflict-freeness also worried me. All my peers have experienced the stage of rebellion – as an indispensable stage of growing up, but I have not. I am already 27, and I have not survived the transition – in the psychological sense of the word – age. For some time I kept thinking: when will I rise again? But in their youth they rebel when they want to prove to their parents that they are already independent, and I never had deep contradictions with my parents. Or when they want to test their parents. But there were no grounds for this either – I never doubted their love and always knew that my parents were ready for anything for me. They made it very clear to me that they believed in me and my success. If they didn’t expect anything from me, I wouldn’t be who I am.
Don’t you feel like a hostage to their high hopes?
NP: They didn’t have any specific expectations. I have, yes, I have. I was nine years old when I had already decided everything for myself. You have no idea what kind of shmak I was!
Shmak?
NP: Well, yes, that’s how my grandmother speaks Yiddish about such people … well, those other types, impudent and stupid at the same time!
So what kind of shmak were you?
NP: It’s just that when a woman who was collecting children for filming in an advertisement approached me and my mother in a pizzeria and asked if I wanted to become an advertising model, I answered (my mother didn’t even have time to open her mouth): no, thanks, but I need an agent. So, over time, I got an agent, and two years later I was already filming in Killer Leon with Luc Besson. Parents reacted to this without much enthusiasm. And when new proposals followed, they insisted that the school was the main thing, that I was filming only during the holidays. They never took a single penny from my fees. And now they stick to the same line. Every time I leave, I find my dad’s check for $100. I say: Dad, you know I can write you a pile of such checks myself. And he: you are my daughter, my only child, and suddenly you need … Such are my parents: they are still convinced that they must pay my bills.
But weren’t you a “Jewish princess” – the only daughter who is allowed to do everything?
NP: To be a full-fledged Jewish princess, one must grow up in a wealthy Jewish family. And in our family there was nothing to be luxurious. My father was not yet a practicing doctor, he studied. I studied until the age of 40, and my mother did not work, she took care of me. So, until I started making money – and that was already when I was 14 years old – we traveled around America in an old Chevrolet, went to my grandmother, my mother’s mother, to Ohio, to Disneyland and once – to my father’s relatives to Israel. In the back seat of the car, dad built a sleeping place for me and a corner with toys and books and called it “Nata’s apartment” – he tried to create in me the feeling of owning my own space, as if I were already an adult. That is, they spoiled me, but certainly not through money.
Did success in the cinema prevent you from finding a common language with your peers?
NP: I really didn’t find a common language with children: I was over-confident. In me, and before “Leon” there was some stupid bravado. And after that… In our family, it was believed that the movie would corrupt the child. However, everyone there kept himself in hand: not a bad word, not an extra gesture, not a look. And while I was surrounded by adults, my peers were already living their lives with might and main. I was on set when they tried cigarettes. And their first novels happened at the age of 12, when I was maniacally engaged in dancing and stage movement … In a word, I dropped out of the usual teenage life. In the seventh grade, after “Leon”, everyone at school turned their backs on me altogether. I ended up at odds with everyone, sobbed every evening, I had to change school … And then dad helped me, because he, as a doctor, deals with the most delicate, with the problems of the human body. And he is a very gentle person. He made me change my point of view: not to see myself as the center of all events, but on the contrary, to notice the effect my words and actions have on others.
Do you think you missed your childhood?
NP: No, I just had a different childhood. I learned French because I was in Leon, I learned to skate because I was in Pretty Girls. I just grew up differently than other kids.
But I had to grow up…
NP: In a sense, yes. After Leon, I started getting letters from fans. Parents believe that among them were full of pedophiles! But I only saw one such letter, and believe me, that was enough. Then they simply did not show them to me, and my mother dealt with the correspondence. But I still remember one post. I was 13, and I read that my breasts were very touchingly visible through my clothes … I was just in shock: some guy was publicly in the press! – speaks about my chest! Then I categorically rejected a very flattering offer to play in Lolita by Adrien Lyne. I decided to stick to “childish” roles and even give autographs only to children. It seems to me that being a sexual object is not very pleasant at any age. But an adult can at least competently decide what he wants in this situation.
However, you have retained this image of charmingly innocent sexuality.
NP: But the vast majority of screenwriters and directors are men. And they create screen women from the material of their imagination! Hence this cliche – the sexiest woman with childlike innocence.
But you played a stripper in Proximity. A risky role given the decision…
NP: It was a kind of psychotherapeutic act … I experienced the same desperate love as the heroine. And I wanted to get rid of this kind of feelings, devastating … No, that’s all, I won’t say anything more. Relationships are the main, central part of my life. Therefore, I categorically do not want to talk about them, sorry. But the film itself was an interesting experience for me. In preparation for it, I went to strip clubs. And you know, I thought: why do men not strive for poles? And I came to a paradoxical conclusion: a man who becomes a sexual object loses his sexual attraction. The image of masculinity, a hunter, not prey – it makes the body of a man invisible – something like a veil for Muslim women! We have a strange civilization, you see. And gender inequality has amazing overtones … Although I am outraged by its elementary manifestation: all my friends, choosing a profession, wondered how it would be possible to combine it with their families, with children. None of my male friends had to think about anything like that!
What did this too early experience of adult life give you?
NP: I don’t feel like a burden. On the contrary, he gave me a chance to see how huge the world is and how everything is possible in it, everything! Experience is an ambiguous thing. So I often visit Jerusalem and generally consider Israel to be my second homeland. Part of our family is there, we have many friends there. And people my age…they have such a different experience from their peers in other countries! By the age of 27, they had already served in the army, learned a special army brotherhood, most had to face something terrible – Israel is a warring country. Do you know that human connections there are often based on military ones? Friendship for life. And, as a rule, your family’s doctor, and tax consultant, and lawyer will be the one with whom you served. Do you understand how much stronger, more experienced human ties are there? And their love of life is much greater than ours. They live modestly, not richly, but their experience of constant survival, such a seemingly negative one, leads to a positive attitude towards life. By the way, we had an interesting laboratory at the university. According to memories. We interviewed 50 people and found out that people who are happy, self-fulfilled, internally satisfied do not have bad memories. That is, they qualify the bad things that happened to them not as a burden, not as something that haunts them, but as a completed past, melted into a useful experience.
Why did you, an established actress, decide to go to university?
NP: Probably because of my grandfather. I graduated from high school, and then he was sick and was not at my graduation. I came to visit him. And when he asked what I was going to do now, I decided to get his opinion, and he answers so confidently: “Harvard.” Doesn’t explain anything, just says the word. Grandpa had been a university teacher all his life – at home in Israel, at Princeton, at Yale. And in Harvard – “the city of golden heads.” You see, ordinary people work in Hollywood. There are not enough stars from the sky, they measure their success mainly by box office. Yes, average people. Well, in general, I decided to go to the “golden heads”. And I did, but I was an excellent student at school. But for the first time at Harvard, I was haunted by a mania … self-proof. I had the feeling that everyone around me thought that I was here because I was famous. I had to prove to myself and to everyone that this was not so. This made my mistakes and stupid performances look even more stupid, and I fell into despair: here is the confirmation that I’m just another stupid actress! In fact, no one thought so, and my first professor – it was a neuroscience seminar – did not even know that freshman Herschlag was, so to speak, a Hollywood star.
Hershlag?
NP: Well, yes, Portman is the surname of my grandmother, by the way, she was born in Russia. I became Portman when I started acting. Well, so as not to harm my father’s career with unnecessary publicity. And at the university I was real – Hershlag. And there are research works – about the mental and personal development of children under the age of one.
Why children?
NP: I have long been interested in child psychology, I am convinced that every baby is an individual. I must have been eight years old. One mother’s friend told how her son began to show character in the womb. She was pregnant, and she was lightly pressed in the subway car, and she felt how what she thought was just a fetus rested hard inside her. Resisted! I am familiar with this “fruit”. Indeed, it is useless to put pressure on him, such a person.
You don’t dress for famous designers, you don’t wear jewelry, you’re actively involved in charity work. Do you deny the power of the material?
NP: In my life – yes, for sure! It’s because of the father, I think. Dad, as they say, pulled politics into the house. Which, in fact, is natural for an Israeli. These people have built their own homeland. They recreated it in the desert – the geographical and the desert of human misunderstanding. They, ordinary people, beggars, beaten, survivors of pogroms and the Holocaust, did big politics. So much so that they insisted on their own state. It is clear that this is genetic for me – I put the human will above all material things. And let it sound pompous! But on the other hand… You see, I have been able to have so much for so long that I don’t appreciate this “having” at all. Of the things I do not need anything. I am indifferent to them. I have a soft spot for handbags. And most importantly – books, a lot of shelves, half from grandparents. It is important for me to be able to share. I recently visited Uganda. For FINCA, which I work for (it’s a non-government organization that distributes small loans to women in developing countries to start their own business). There, in Uganda, hundreds of thousands of lives could be saved for a penny: if people there had money for shoes, they would not go barefoot and catch worms that reduce the body’s resistance to malaria. And they would be alive … And I have hundreds of pairs of shoes – all sorts of sponsorship gifts and so on. Why do I need it?
Have you ever felt wary of activists like you?
NP: Yes, I felt it, of course. An actress can talk five pages of a magazine about her favorite designers, and the message is simple: buy this dress. But if you say: donate five dollars to this charitable organization … Immediately the reaction is: what is it about? But I am in the center of mass attention, nothing particularly deserved, they at least need to be disposed of wisely!
So, from the classical opposition “to have or to be”, you choose “to be”?
NP: Rather, I choose to know.