Natalie Portman is one of the actors on the cover of Vanity Fair’s Hollywood Issue. I enjoyed Natalie in May December, and I enjoyed the film overall. I wish Charles Melton had gotten some big nominations but I wasn’t surprised that Natalie and Julianne Moore were largely snubbed. Still, Natalie and Charles both ended up on the VF cover, which meant that they both got stand-alone profiles in the magazine. Natalie chatted with VF about the film, about how she’s not really a Method actress, but she also said some interesting stuff about the bifurcation of her identity. VF asks about her marriage too – last year, the French tabloids caught Benjamin Millepied engaged in an affair with a young Frenchwoman, and reportedly Natalie and Benjamin are sort of separated and maybe even getting a divorce (no one has filed anything though). Some highlights from VF:
Dealing with the public interest in her life: “I got very protective of it very early on. I chose a different name when I started, which was kind of an interesting way that I separated identities. I would get upset if someone at school called me Natalie Portman. I was like, if you know me, you know me as Natalie Hershlag at school. It was kind of an extreme bifurcation of identity that I’ve tried to integrate a little bit more as an adult. I felt like it was not accepting that both were part of me, that there wasn’t a “real” me and a “pretend” me, and that they didn’t necessarily have different names… As I started having kids and a family, I started realizing that maybe it was not helpful to be like, there’s two of me. I have many interactions during my day as a public person. To exclude that from my experience is not real.
On people writing about her marriage: “It’s terrible, and I have no desire to contribute to it.
Living in Paris & LA: “I find them very complementary cities. I love having both in my life. I lead a very non-Hollywood life in LA. I live on the east side. I have some friends who are in the entertainment industry, but many friends who are not, and we don’t do industry things when we hang out. We’re not going to Hollywood parties, we’re having dinners at home in the backyard. I actually found that living there made my experience of LA much less “Hollywood.” When I would visit, it would only be for work, and I’d be staying somewhere in Beverly Hills, and I’d be having industry meetings and going to industry parties. Living there made my experience much more rounded and appreciative of all the city has to offer, from nature to the arts, food to music, and of course, the people. And Paris, of course, is just a dream. I’m so lucky to get to live here and have an enormously stimulating city life with incredible friends.
Watching Hollywood change: “The striking thing has been the decline of film as a primary form of entertainment. It feels much more niche now. If you ask someone my kids’ age about movie stars, they don’t know anyone compared to YouTube stars, or whatever. There’s a liberation to it, in having your art not be a popular art. You can really explore what’s interesting to you. It becomes much more about passion than about commerce. And interesting, too, to beware of it becoming something elitist. I think all of these art forms, when they become less popularized, you have to start being like, okay, who are we making this for anymore? And then amazing, too, because there’s also been this democratization of creativity, where gatekeepers have been demoted and everyone can make things and incredible talents come up. And the accessibility is incredible. If you lived in a small town, you might not have been able to access great art cinema when I was growing up. Now it feels like if you’ve got an internet connection, you can get access to anything. It’s pretty wild that you also feel like at the same time, more people than ever might see your weird art film because of his extraordinary access. So it’s this two-sided coin.
She loves word games: “I do a lot of word games. I really like all the New York Times crossword and Connections and Wordle and Spelling Bee. Actually, Julianne [Moore] is also a word-game obsessive. And she gets Queen Bee almost every day. I mean, I thought I was already impressed by what a good actress she was, but that will really top it for me.
I like what she says here about the democratization of art and how people have greater access to a wider variety of all kinds of films and television shows, and that people can “come up” in different ways. That’s all true. But… there are still gatekeepers and films are not “niche” entertainment. But I get what she’s saying. Gen Z experiences TV, films and “content” so differently than the generations before them. I like what she says about living in LA – she’s not an LA-basher and I do think that’s because she actually lives there and she’s not just flying in for work.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, cover courtesy of Vanity Fair.
Natalie Herschlag vs. Natalie Portman. Living in Los Angeles and Paris. Film feeling more niche but also somehow more widespread. Public work life vs. private life with non-famous and non-Hollywood friends. Word games. Man, the Gemini is powering through! (The dream I had right before I woke up this morning involved astrology so it’s top of mind for me right now LOL.)
And don’t forget one of her best films, where she portrayed dual roles of White Swan Odette and Black Swan Odile! Ha. She’s so classy.
As I was reading this post, I was also thinking: “ Ahh! So, THIS is what it’s like to be a Gemini with money and a good support system!” Then I read your comment @Boxy Lady. Thanks for inadvertently adding a bit of structure to my Sunday morning aspirational musings!
Was about to comment on exactly that. And the Virgo moon adds to the mercurial nature – word games for sure! I suspect this lady is harder on herself than she lets on.
I don’t want to put energy into astrology and personality traits (not predictions) are as far as I’ll go, but I always love Virgo placements so much. Smart, genuinely humble people.
Just here to say that impressionist dress she wore to the Golden Globes (pic) was next level.
I love Ms Portman, she is a talented actress. It must really nice to be able to live in LA and Paris. Both cities are very expensive and prohibited for most of us due to financial constraints. I do wonder if Ms. Portman uses commercial flights for traveling from LA to Paris or if she charters a private airplane. Some of us are very concerned about the carbon footprint we are all leaving behind.
🤔
Claiming to love someone just so you can get your snarky “It must be nice” and “some of us” statements out there (which are obviously all you really wanted to say).
Have people in your day to day life pointed out your overconsumption of Haterade?
If not, this is your intervention.
Ummm, yupme are you ok? It is absolutely acceptable to like someone, but point out their privilege and negative impact of their life style on greenhouse gas emissions at the same time. If you have not learned that people you like can do things you feel are wrong, then lucky sheltered you. I hope you are just having a bad day, but attacking a fellow poster like that for being critical of an actress‘ lifestyle is really weird
‘Overconsumption of Haterade’ hehehe, totally going to use that
And yes, yup me is just fine and so am I. Because we both know what someone means when they start a comment with ‘I love them BUT…’
She’s an interesting person with things to say, which is more than a lot of other actors. I enjoyed May December way more than I thought I would since I heard it was loosely based on the Letourneau affair which was always just icky to me. It must have been because of Julianne Moore being the graceful and sympathetic actress she is. And Natalie was good in it too. Maybe in a less crowded year one of them would have gotten a nomination.
She’s an interesting person with things to say, which is more than a lot of other actors. I enjoyed May December way more than I thought I would since I heard it was loosely based on the Letourneau affair which was always just gross to me. It must have been because of Julianne Moore just being the graceful and sympathetic actress she is. And Natalie was good in it too. Maybe in a less crowded year one of them
would have gotten a nomination.
I’m in Paris and LA frequently for work. It’s a great place to visit but if you don’t have a lot of money, they’re both hard places to live. Paris is so odd because it’s gorgeous and then you go into a restroom in a nice restaurant and it’s filthier than anything you can imagine.
Parisian here, it is indeed the filthiest city in Europe for sure. And it’s about to get worse with the Olympic Games, it’s going to be such a mess.
I mean no disrespect because I do love being there. Are things really going to be awful with the Olympics?
I’m going to be there a few weeks after the Olympics are done, hoping it’s all calmed down and everyone is gone by then!
Well I’m pretty sure every parisian expects the worst because literally nothing seems to be ready to host the games. The city is pretty much a mess already so adding an enormous influx of persons for this sort of event is going to create more chaos. Also I’m part of the people who won’t be able to work from home so I’m dreading this summer because it’s going to be absolutely insane to circulate in that city. At least I’m not part of the students who will have to leave their student housing because they have nowhere to house the people who will work in the games (firefighters, medics,…).
A lot of my Parisian friends are trying to Airbnb their apartments and gtf out of the city during the games. Yes it is gonna be a mess.
Ha, that’s the opposite of Canada, where our washrooms are meticulous – even in gas stations. It’s slightly unnerving when you’re not used to it.
She probably spends some time in NYC.
She’s become very diplomatic with age. She now compliments everything and everyone.
I don’t think of movies as niche or elitist, even for Gen Z. I suspect they still watch long-form movies with some degree of frequency, but maybe the movie or story takes center stage instead of the movie star himself/herself, since movie stars are not really larger than life anymore ( with a few exceptions).
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Eh, am not the biggest fan. She’s always come off quite smug in her privilege and to me lacking in self awareness. Did enjoy Leon and Black Swan, though. But hey, do you Natalie.
I’ll comment to say I’m disappointed in the skimpy, peek a boo, no underwear dress she’s wearing on the cover when her peers are dressed to the nines. I wonder whose idea it was.
Yes it was shockingly cheap looking but I think she is trying to rebrand herself as a single gal and there were some missteps. The hair is tragic just nothing no glam no boom but that one dude was naked so there is that.
I am a fan of hers okay but she has bashed L.A. when she met husband and how everything French is better then everything American NY and LA and she went on and on. Yes she is allowed to change her mind just saying that she says it now that she had to flee France from what happened and no she she no have to and it not her fault but I get that she wants to come back to her own area but she trash it and NY for so many interviews.
Someone said recently that award shows remind us that all these beautiful actors have writers scripting words for them; ie, they tend to come off as kinda not-too-sharp IRL. But for me, Natalie always proves to be much smarter than the characters she portrays. She reminds me of SJP in that manner: sharp, serious, discerning, calculating. Yale educated. Couldn’t stand her in Star Wars and subsequent early roles, but have really come to admire her talent and respect her as an artist.
I would think it’s like an industry, there are smart and not-so-smart people throughout. Natalie does strike me as pretty intelligent, and I have enjoyed a number of her performances. Considering she was a child star, she’s comes through her adult career very well.
I think she went to Harvard and she has always been smart and relatively genuine, though I’ve never been a fan of her acting. I think she’s super overrated as an actress. Nice to see her and Jodie Foster and other child stars turn out okay as far as we can tell.
She’s definitely mellowing with age like most of us do.
Did the same person write most of these comments? All negative just because of things she said years ago. Why care that she doesn’t have the same opinions as you?
Interesting quotes and agree with much of what she’s saying. Kids are spending all their time on TikTok and 30-second to 2-minute videos. There’s too much too consume. They’re already producing super short streaming shows to cater to the short attention span. Tyler Perry’s recent comments are on point; these guys will be licensing their images pretty soon rather than having to go on set and doing the actual work. AI is coming for everyone and it’s just another adaptation; fear isn’t going to help.
I think they read a lot or do a lot of word puzzles because acting is a lot of waiting around.