A star at 13 and a graduate of Harvard University, she once said "Star Wars" nearly ruined her career.
Natalie Portman is back with "May December" at the Festival de Cannes. This is her story.
#cannes2023
Natalie Portman is back with "May December" at the Festival de Cannes. This is her story.
#cannes2023
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00I have to admit that today, even 12 years after graduation, I'm still insecure about my own worthiness.
00:07I have to remind myself today, you are here for a reason.
00:11I came from a family of academics and was very concerned with being taken seriously.
00:31I was so excited at 13 when the film was released and my work and my art would have a human response.
00:38I excitedly opened my first fan mail to read a rape fantasy that a man had written me.
00:44A countdown was started on my local radio show to my 18th birthday, euphemistically the date that I would be legal to sleep with.
00:51Movie reviewers talked about my budding breasts in reviews.
01:01I rejected any role that even had a kissing scene and talked about that choice deliberately in interviews.
01:07I emphasized how bookish I was and how serious I was and I cultivated an elegant way of dressing.
01:14When I got to Harvard just after the release of Star Wars Episode I, I knew I would be starting over in terms of how people viewed me.
01:34I feared people would assume I had gotten in just for being famous.
01:38I felt like there had been some mistake, that I wasn't smart enough to be in this company.
01:43And that every time I opened my mouth, I would have to prove I wasn't just a dumb actress.
01:47I really see it as this young woman's coming of age and that she becomes a woman.
02:13She starts out a girl and becomes a woman by finding her own artistic voice and sort of killing the child version of herself.
02:31It's so special to get to go to the premiere and see the passion that people have for these movies.
02:37And to see people dressed up in character and just caring so much about it is so rare and so unique.
02:53I've been a vegetarian since I was nine and I became vegan almost eight years ago.
02:57I learned that the biggest thing I could do to have an impact on the planet's health was to become vegan.
03:07You are representative for your people whether you want to or not.
03:28You are asked a lot of things all the time just by virtue of being Israeli and even by virtue of being Jewish.
03:37You know, it's something I think women are a lot of really uncomfortable talking about.
04:06And it's really important to make sure that you do talk about it because that's how we all get to where we should be.
04:13We've been living in a system and all have been complicit in a system and accepting a system that is harassing and abusing and causing so much pain for so many marginalized people and it's time to change it.
04:43And when I was reading the books, I was struck by how the classic stories had overwhelmingly male characters and thinking, what am I telling my kids, both my son and my daughter, about who's in whose stories are important.
05:13It was such a cool opportunity to get to play a superhero, especially the mighty Thor is so, so incredible.
05:34And then to have her also have this human side that has weaknesses, that has vulnerabilities, that has fears, you know, was an incredible, like, I felt like it was something that I could relate to more than someone who is just tough and badass all the time.