Considering Natalie Portman gave birth just a few days before the Oscars, I feel pretty certain that she’s not currently sitting down for interviews to promote Song by Song, her new Terrence Malick film. I’m pretty sure she did most of these interviews more than a month ago, and then she possibly answered some late-breaking questions over the phone. Which is fine. It happens in the print media all the time, why not online media? So, Portman is promoting Song by Song, the film where she plays the small-town naif who gets seduced (physically and emotionally) by Michael Fassbender’s character. Bless. That’s like the beginning of most of Fassbender fan-fiction. You can read the full Daily Beast piece here. Some highlights:
The idea of being “seduced” by bad men at a young age: “I’m sure I dodged bullets without even knowing it, because I’m sure my parents kept me from things when I was younger, having been around for so long. But there are certainly figures around who are seductive and can take you down a dark path.”
The modern reassessment of Garden State, which is now disliked: “Well, I mean, I don’t know! I’ve been in movies that people love, movies that people hate, and movies that people started loving and then hated later, and the opposite—movies that people hated at first and then loved later. I think that stuff is totally unpredictable, and you can’t really think about those things. As an actor, your approach has to be totally independent of the reaction to it. Honestly, I don’t watch my films after they come out,. I watch it once after it’s finished and then I never see them again. Also, I don’t read about myself or my films. If you did, you’d just be miserable, I think, if you read all the mean things that were written about yourself. And it just turns into some ego trip about you. So I have not been following it or thinking about it!”
On Donald Trump’s latest beef with Snoop Dogg: “It’s certainly not what we want, and what our president should be focused on.”
She wishes the president would use his platform to speak out against hate crimes: “All of the examples of hate crimes and hatred, whether it’s against the Indian-Americans who were killed in the Midwest, or against Jews, or against all the different minority groups where it’s been happening, it’s really outrageous and the government certainly needs to step up against it and make their voice clear on how the unacceptable nature of these attacks and threats.”
On SNL this season: “I’ve been watching. The political sketches are really right-on and amazing. They’re great at showing us the absurdity of the situation right now.”
I’m glad that she mentioned the hate crimes against Indians and Indian-Americans as well as the hate crimes against the Jewish community. The common thread of all of this – and she’s right to connect them – is that Donald Trump’s base of white supremacists, neo-Nazis and ignorant bigots feels more empowered. Trump has barely spoken out about these hate crimes because they are his base, and he shares many of their views. And she’s right, all of this is just… absurd.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Why do people hate Garden State now, fill me in please! I wasn’t a huge fan just because I don’t like sappy movie so in general, but I remember everyone else loved it.
I agree with all she said, although when I say it it involves a lot more cursing. She remained very calm.
I was wondering the same thing about Garden State! I see why people would maybe lightly mock its more twee aspects but I thought it was generally sweet. And the soundtrack remains one of my favorites.
I also agree with what she said. It’s beyond depressing and rage-inducing when our own president can’t bother to speak out about such heinous crimes. Compassion is not something he seems to have a capacity for.
Part of it is because of this tripe about how some dopey average man-child “finds life and meaning” though a manic pixie dram girl (girl-woman who’s quirky!! and seemingly has no needs other than to make dopey man-child happy).
Plus IMO the movie is twee as all hell.
also it hasn’t aged very well, esp. compared to other quirky-girl dramas of the early 2000s (see: Amelie, which was all about the quirky girl herself and put her at the centre of the story, not just to be her love interest’s meaning in life).
Garden State was hailed as super deep and meaningful and charming at the time but it really didn’t hold up.
Agreed. I couldn’t get through it at the time and I’m sure I can’t now either. Not my cup of tea but I do loathe ‘manic pixie dream girl’ crap to begin with. Why must women be such narrowly drawn characters to their male counterparts?
teacakes- Do you think Amelie has aged well? I couldn’t get through it (either to be honest) the first time. The only thing missing was some Zooey Deschanel twirling in the background. They are all so snowflake and special. Ugh.
I still love Garden State! I had no idea people felt this way. Yes, Zac Braff plays a man child, but that’s part of the story. Plus, best soundtrack ever.
I rewatched it a couple years ago and it was so, so bad. I remember loving it in high school, but oh man was it bad. Whiny, emo boy goes home and has to deal with his rich kid mommy is dead issues. Does some drugs. Finds a girl and suddenly everything is okay. It was just so self-indulgent and depressing for no reason.
The soundtrack is still excellent though. Not a bad song to be found.
I hated that movie-I could barely finish it. Blessedly,I don’t remember very much except it gave me a self-indulgent “Girls” vibe. Which I also hated the first five minutes in.
I did too. The main characters were just insufferable. It was a torturous movie to watch.
This was a nice interview and I don’t blame her at all for sticking her head in the sand regarding critics (though to be fair, there was criticism that was justified).
Trump is not going to be a Moral Leader. You have to have Morals in order to do that. This is a man whose Son in Law is Jewish and his grand children. You would imagine that he would be passionate about it. But no. He is always quick to respond to any attack he sees against himself; not the nation or the people he represents.
She’s so cute in the casual pic , and she’s one of my faves. Glad her parents protected her that’s what all parents should do. Dating young rarely has good outcomes, compared to not dating and spending that time on other things.
Yes, they seem to have kept her grounded and she has grown up to be a thinking person. I wish I liked her films better, as she seems intelligent.
She was enormously lucky in one major way – unlike a lot of child stars, she wasn’t the breadwinner of her family.
Compare that to, say, Millie Bobby Brown, and I’m legit worried for Millie.
I’m also worried for Millie!
I don’t think Millie will have much of a career after Stranger Things unfortunately.
Natalie is (was?) friends with Ivanka. She attended Ivanka’s wedding. Wonder if any journos have been asking her about that. If they have no one’s published Portman’s response.
she looked like an ethereal mom in that James Blake video for My Willing Heart ( Im still so obsessed with that whole CD BTW)