Global fame she wasn't prepared for, directors who wouldn't hire her, and an overwhelming critical backlash. Natalie Portman's life definitely changed after she appeared in the "Star Wars" prequels — but not all of it was good.
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00:00Global fame she wasn't prepared for, directors who wouldn't hire her, and an overwhelming
00:05critical backlash, Natalie Portman's life definitely changed after she appeared in the
00:10Star Wars prequels.
00:11But not all of it was good.
00:13While Star Wars Episode I, The Phantom Menace, wasn't Natalie Portman's first film, the young
00:17star was still new to the industry when she first stepped into Padme's shoes.
00:22She was only 14 when she was cast in the role.
00:24It's a huge commitment to sign on for three films.
00:28Despite the franchise's indelible spot in the cultural lexicon, Portman had never seen
00:32the original films prior to getting cast as the future mother of Luke and Leia.
00:36As a result, she was somewhat unaware of how big of a deal the films actually were, especially
00:41for a girl who was still in high school.
00:43She was even absent from the film's first U.S. premiere to prioritize her final exams.
00:47The young actor admitted years later how overwhelmed she was by the Star Wars spectacle as a teen,
00:53telling CNN,
00:54It's really different from being in other kinds of films.
00:56It's huge.
00:57It's everywhere you go."
00:59She quickly learned that, whether as a teenager or an adult, the global fame of appearing in
01:03the most highly anticipated Star Wars movie of all time was bound to change her life for
01:08good.
01:10Being one of the most famous teenage actors on the planet didn't stop Portman from trying
01:13to experience a relatively normal young adulthood.
01:17After graduating from high school the same year The Phantom Menace premiered, she didn't
01:20wait long to pursue a higher education, enrolling in Harvard University a year later.
01:25During her summers off, she continued starring in films like Anywhere But Here, and appeared
01:30in a Broadway production of Chekhov's The Seagull.
01:33One might think attending an Ivy League school while juggling a rising acting career might
01:37be ideal, but Portman worked hard to shake off assumptions.
01:40Speaking about Harvard, she told Vanity Fair,
01:43I felt like I had to prove myself more.
01:45I felt that people always thought I was there because I was famous and not because I deserved
01:49to be there."
01:50It took me a while to have the courage to, like, speak up in class.
01:53I would always be like, oh my god, everyone's gonna laugh at me."
01:56Star Wars Episode II – Attack of the Clones was released in 2002, with Portman reprising
02:01her role as Padme.
02:02The film's production primarily took place during Portman's summer off from Harvard in
02:062000, with Portman telling the BBC,
02:08"...it is definitely a big commitment to make, but it has been an incredible part of my life."
02:14Star Wars wasn't the only acting job Portman had during her time at Harvard.
02:18The actor kept busy with numerous film projects, most of which had far lower budgets than
02:22those of that galaxy far, far away.
02:24In 2004, she signed on to Zach Braff's directorial debut, Garden State, as Sam, a quirky girl
02:30who enchants the life of a depressed loner.
02:33According to Portman, she was enthusiastic about joining Garden State for the opportunity
02:37to do something quite different from her experience on Star Wars.
02:402004 also saw Portman nab her first Oscar nomination for Closer, in which she played
02:45a stripper who falls for a writer played by Jude Law.
02:48The role garnered Portman acclaim, and was a huge step forward for the actor.
02:52The film was much more adult than the family-friendly Star Wars franchise.
02:55Plus, Portman had to perform nude in deleted scenes.
02:59Outside of her appearance in the Star Wars franchise, V for Vendetta was one of Portman's
03:03most notable roles of the 2000s.
03:05In the film, she played Evie Hammond, a woman lured into a futuristic revolution led by
03:10the masked terrorist V.
03:12Portman likely wouldn't have been cast in the film if she hadn't already met the director
03:15thanks to Star Wars.
03:17Before making his directorial debut with V for Vendetta, James McTeigue worked as an
03:21assistant director on Attack of the Clones.
03:23That's where he first considered the talented Portman to portray the complex Evie, telling
03:27Warner Bros.,
03:28"...she's completely professional and looks luminous, but more than anything, her fearlessness
03:33and intelligence were perfect for the role."
03:36Fortunately, McTeigue's instincts on the set of Attack of the Clones were right, as Portman
03:40sacrificed a lot for the role of Evie.
03:42In one scene in V for Vendetta, the character is tortured and her head is shaved, which
03:46Portman insisted on having done on camera in order to feel the humiliation that the
03:51character feels.
03:52"...it was very dramatic and a lot of pressure to, you know, get it in one take."
03:58It's no secret that, upon their initial release, the Star Wars prequels weren't the cult classics
04:03they are today.
04:04The backlash to The Phantom Menace, in particular, was overwhelming at the time, having grave
04:08effects on the mental health of stars like Ahmed Best, who played Jar Jar Binks, and
04:13Jake Lloyd, who played Anakin Skywalker.
04:15While Portman's career continued on after the prequels, she did admit that the critical
04:19backlash got to her as well.
04:21She told Variety,
04:22"...I mean, I had it with the professional, too.
04:24That and Star Wars are two examples of things that when they came out, I was like, oh my
04:28God, this is a disaster.
04:30And then 20 years later, it's beloved."
04:33Not only have many fans actually come around on the Star Wars films, but a surprising percentage
04:38of Star Wars fans think the prequels are the best of the three trilogies.
04:41But that doesn't change the fact that, at the time, it was disappointing for her to
04:45be part of something so highly anticipated that ended up letting people down.
04:49Thankfully, it taught her the value of delayed gratification.
04:53Although Portman's early roles showed promise, poor direction, and bad timing with the prequels
04:57turned off many directors from wanting to hire her, this reality forced Portman to rely
05:01on the people she already knew.
05:03The actor recounted to New York Magazine that one of the most helpful people during this
05:07time of her career was Mike Nichols, whom she had met initially when he directed her
05:11in The Seagull on Broadway.
05:13Luckily, that play gave Portman the opportunity to prove to audiences that she wasn't the
05:17wooden actor she appeared to be in Star Wars.
05:19She told the outlet,
05:20"...I was in the biggest, grossing movie of the decade, and no director wanted to work
05:25with me."
05:26Mike wrote a letter to Anthony McGilla and said,
05:28"...put her in Cold Mountain.
05:29I vouch for her."
05:30By the time films like Garden State and V for Vendetta were released, Portman was able
05:34to rehabilitate her image as a serious actor.
05:37But still, accusations that she wasn't talented would haunt her even after she won the Oscar
05:42for Black Swan, with many claiming she still didn't deserve the acclaim she had earned.
05:47Like many young actors, Portman got a chance to bask in her success by hosting Saturday
05:51Night Live to promote V for Vendetta.
05:53Nobody could predict how well Portman would do as a first-time host of SNL, however, especially
05:58when she teamed up with The Lonely Island's Andy Samberg, Yuma Takoni, and Akiva Schafer
06:02to produce Natalie's rap.
06:04As the trio recounted on The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers' podcast, Portman was eager
06:08to do a rap song with the group after seeing their success with Lazy Sunday.
06:12It came as quite a shock to the comedians, and likewise, the audience.
06:16"...we all just started dying laughing and being like, oh yeah, that will really work.
06:20No one is gonna see this coming."
06:21The digital short would later be recognized as a huge reason why Portman was able to break
06:26out of the Star Wars bubble.
06:27Even recently, Seth Meyers gave her credit for exceeding expectations with her committed
06:31performance in the sketch.
06:33It's even more special now that Portman did a sequel, Natalie's Rap 2, in 2018, in which
06:38she adamantly defends the prequel trilogy from criticism.
06:42Between a Harvard education and burgeoning film career, you'd be forgiven for thinking
06:46Portman didn't have time for a personal life.
06:48However, the actor met her future husband, Benjamin Milpier, while working on Black Swan,
06:53and the couple had two children together before divorcing in 2024.
06:57While her Star Wars character never got to be a mother to Luke and Leia, Portman learned
07:00a lot from the experience, particularly when it came to how she approached her kids' investment
07:05in the sci-fi franchise.
07:06Although her oldest son has seen the Star Wars sequel trilogy, she has purposefully
07:10kept both her children from seeing the prequels, because despite being proud of the films,
07:14Portman doesn't want her kids to see her only as Padme.
07:17In fact, it's unlikely she'll ever show her kids the Star Wars prequels, for one specific
07:22reason.
07:23She recounted on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2016,
07:25"...When I made it, I was like, this is going to be the coolest thing.
07:28One day when I have kids, I can show them.
07:31But then I realized, I die in the movies.
07:32I feel like it's kind of a scary thing to show your kid."
07:35In 2020, she told Fatherly she was still waiting to introduce her children to Padme, as she
07:40didn't want them to see her as, quote, as anything other than their mom.
07:45Portman has continued to stay close to the realm of sci-fi in recent years, though she's
07:48appeared in much more serious projects than the Star Wars prequels.
07:52One example of this is 2018's Annihilation, in which she plays a cellular biologist who
07:57travels with an all-female crew of scientists to explore a zone originating from a meteor.
08:02The film pairs Portman with an on-screen husband, played by Oscar Isaac, who, at the time of
08:06filming the movie, was in the midst of playing Poe Dameron in the Star Wars sequels.
08:10As addressed on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, this connection between the screen couple was not lost on
08:14them.
08:15Portman took Isaac up on his offer to bring her to the Star Wars set, and despite her
08:19history with the franchise, she likens the experience to an
08:22"...aren't I a cool mom?"
08:23move.
08:24"...you hooked us up, yeah, it was great."
08:27Enough time has passed since the Star Wars prequels that even some of Portman's closest
08:30collaborators have forgotten about her involvement in them.
08:33At least Taika Waititi has.
08:35Portman joined forces with the actor-director on Thor Love and Thunder.
08:39Waititi was adamant about including her in the Thor Ragnarok sequel to play the mighty
08:43Thor, though it apparently wasn't a long conversation before Portman said yes.
08:47In addition to that film, Waititi has also been working on a Star Wars project that might
08:52or might not ever happen.
08:53Unfortunately, his Star Wars movie likely won't involve Portman, but not for lack of
08:57trying.
08:58As the director confessed to Rolling Stone,
09:00"...I said, I'm trying to work on a Star Wars thing.
09:02Have you ever wanted to be in a Star Wars movie?
09:04She said, I've been in Star Wars movies.
09:06I forgot about those ones."
09:08In 2023, Portman appeared in May-December, a drama in which she plays an actor studying
09:13the life of a wife and husband whose relationship began when he was a teenager and she was in
09:18her 30s.
09:19The Netflix movie based on a disturbing real-life sex scandal has ignited a lot of conversations
09:23in the press about the treatment of children by Hollywood and the exploitation of trauma,
09:28which resonated a lot with Portman given her history as a child actor.
09:32Seeing as she rose to prominence as a teenager in the Star Wars prequels, Portman has bittersweet
09:36feelings about the morality behind child labor in Hollywood.
09:40She told Variety,
09:41"...I feel like it was almost an accident of luck that I was not harmed, also combined
09:45with very overprotective, wonderful parents.
09:47I've heard too many bad stories to think that any children should be part of it."
09:51It's not hard to imagine how thankful Portman is that she made it out of the child stardom
09:55machine unscathed, especially considering how crazy the circus surrounding the Star
10:00Wars franchise is.
10:01It just goes to show that no actors will ever be defined by one performance, especially
10:06when they have a lot of growing up to do in the years after.