Natalie Portman Rewatches Black Swan, Star Wars, V for Vendetta & More

[Interviewer] Is there any truth to the rumor

that there was an alternate motivation?

That Padme was actually going to kill Anakin

in the scene? Oh, that's cool.

No, no [laughing].

And cool, but nope [laughing].

Hi, I'm Natalie Portman

and I'm going to be watching some scenes

from throughout my career.

[upbeat music]

[cassette clicking] [tape whirring]

[intense music] [Natalie crying]

They had a few cameras rolling at the same time

'cause it was obviously a one-time occurrence

when they shaved my actual hair.

They had my hairdresser on the film playing the role

so that he knew what he was doing.

It wasn't like, thank God it wasn't just an actor

they handed an electric razor.

It was very dramatic

and a lot of pressure to get it in one take.

[intense music]

[door slamming]

[ominous music]

I was reading like a lot of kind of freedom fighter

kind of memoirs and biographies, autobiographies,

before to kind of get that mindset of people

who are imprisoned for their beliefs

and the kind of injustice of it

and the moral integrity that strengthens

and fortifies someone in those spaces.

And I was really like in that whole world.

[Guard] Look, all they want

is one little piece of information.

Just give them something, anything.

Thank you, but I'd rather die behind the chemical sheds.

She has so much integrity in the story.

That's why I think it's like so meaningful.

I feel like the whole V for Vendetta story

and the mask, I see it at rallies now.

I mean it's really just so symbolic

for a lot of people I think

[upbeat music] [cassette clicking]

[tape whirring]

Our lives can change with every breath we take.

We both know that

and you tell them to let go of what's gone.

I love Ashley Judd more than maybe anyone.

Like she is so incredible as an actress to watch,

but then also as a person, like I filmed this the summer

after I graduated high school before I went to college

and she like got me all these like sheets

and pillowcases for my dorm room afterwards

and was like got me all like ready

and she was just the most warm, wonderful friend

and now I recently reunited with her, saw her at the UN,

she's become the most brilliant advocate for women's rights

and speaks so eloquently

and forcefully for women's place in society.

And I'm just in awe of her.

I mean she's a professor at Harvard now.

She's like kind of can do anything

and she's just one of the most courageous, brilliant,

awesome people I know.

And tell them to Hold on like hell to what they've got.

Each other and a mother who would die

for them and almost did.

I think it might've been the first time

I played a mom on screen.

And so wild to do that so long

before it happened in real life

and I think I had a little bit of an inkling

that like when you become a mom you have

that quick knowledge of you know how to take care

of other people and she has that in this moment.

[upbeat music] [cassette clicking]

[tape whirring]

Come away with me, help me raise our child,

leave everything else behind while we still can.

It was such a big part of my life

to be part of Star Wars for so many years.

I made the first one when I was 16-years-old

and then this one I did when I was 22.

Obi Wan was right, you've changed.

It was really wild to do green screen.

It felt like a very pure form of acting actually.

It's like almost like when you're a kid

and you're pretending that you know your refrigerator box is

your rocket ship, you know, that you have

to really not just create the world inside of you,

but the world around you as well.

[upbeat music] [cassette clicking]

[tape whirring]

First off, the name is Mighty Thor.

[metal clanking]

And secondly, if you can't say Mighty Thor,

I'll accept Dr. Jane Foster!

[lightening sizzling]

It's pretty amazing, you know, you kind of feel like,

Oh I guess I'll just get to play petite women

my whole life.

And then they're like, No, you're gonna play

a 6'3 character.

Then you watch yourself on screen.

I'm like, This is what it looks like

to be like a big person.

This is what it feels like.

Eat my hammer! [lightening cracking]

The most surprising thing was how much you have to eat.

Like it was all about like protein shakes all day,

which are just so gross after a while.

So it was a funny world to get an insight into.

[Interviewer] Would you ever do something like this again?

Oh it was, yeah, it would be so fun to do.

You get a lot of cool points

with your kids when you do a superhero movie.

[upbeat music] [cassette clicking]

[tape whirring]

[monster roaring]

[gun firing]

This is from Annihilation, which I loved making.

This was back of the studio.

We shot this and there was an animatronic crocodile monster

that we used, but most of it was CG'd after.

[gun firing] [crocodile roaring]

I was early in my pregnancy here of my second child.

So nobody knew,

but I was like, felt really hardcore being like pregnant

and like shooting a machine gun like that.

It really felt radical to be with

so many amazing women together doing this kind of story

and playing these kinds of roles.

Tall grass and military fatigues

with these big guns on us and packs.

Like, it certainly wasn't like anything I'd ever done

and I hadn't seen it before.

So it really, it did feel very radical.

[upbeat music] [cassette clicking]

[tape whirring]

It just seemed to me such a shame when we came here

to find hardly anything of the past in the house.

Hardly anything before 1902.

It was so awesome working with Greta Gerwig.

It was my second time working with her

after No Strings Attached

and it was so fun to like have my friend

and get to see her be amazing

and now, of course, she's just blown us away

with her writing and directing prowess.

Well, if they don't want it, in the past,

you see, they could sell it or throw it out.

It was really intense, you know, it was the first time

and only time I've ever had to do something

that was so precise

because we were replicating these exact videos

with the same shots and using the original sound.

So I was practicing not only the words,

but also the exact rhythms of the original interview.

It was almost like learning music that you had

to learn the exact rhythms and where she took a breath

and where she sighed and all of that.

It was hard to lose it after doing it for so long

'cause it really became part of my psyche.

[upbeat music] [cassette clicking]

[tape whirring]

[intense music]

Well I think in this scene she realizes

that she's hurt herself.

This pursuit of perfection is literally killing her.

[orchestral music]

It was amazing because actually

the physical prep helped me a lot for the psychological side

because I really got a sense of the pain

that you subject yourself to

and regularize yourself to the physical pain.

Also the pressure to be very thin,

which is like a whole other self deprivation.

The pressure of the competition and the perfection

and all of that.

I got also from a lot of the people who were training me

as we were spending the time training 'cause it's hours

and hours and hours I would spend with these individuals

and I would start feeling their personalities

and how the experience of trying

to live up to these expectations shaped them.

And that was all really helpful

for the psychological aspect.

[upbeat music] [cassette clicking]

[tape whirring]

[Woman] They're sweet, aren't they.

Very.

They're a very beloved part

of this community.

I can see that.

This couple Elizabeth watches, Gracie and Joe,

have invited her knowing that she is studying them

and they're kind of performing for her.

They're kind of performing this

like normal, American, you know, barbecue.

And of course there's this very sinister history

underneath it because of the crime

that started their relationship that they're trying to kind

of rewrite with this performance for her.

And I love all the like Americana with the flag,

this kind of idyllic sunset.

But one of the things about shooting in Savannah

is it is this beautiful, idyllic place,

but with a very ugly history, which is not dissimilar

to Joe and Gracie's relationship.

I think it just asks so many amazing questions about like,

can art be amoral?

What parts of our identity do we perform?

How do we really get to truth?

Is it possible to get to truth through these characters

that are really like unpredictable and wild and ferocious?

[cassette clicking]

[tape whirring]

Thanks everybody for watching, I hope you enjoyed it.