Natalie Portman covers the new issue of Marie Claire UK. The editorial is… odd. I’m not sure if it’s the combination of the cat-eye makeup with Natalie’s resting bitchface, but in several shots (and the cover), Natalie looks like she’s about shank someone (perhaps the photographer?). I think MC UK was aiming for “sultry” or “pouty” but they just made her look homicidal. Anyway, Natalie appears on this cover to promote Jane Got a Gun and her directorial feature debut, A Tale of Love and Darkness. ATOLAD is, I believe, still going to make the film festival rounds this fall and will perhaps get some kind of limited release this year. Jane Got a Gun was supposed to come out in September, but Relativity went bankrupt and the film recently got pushed back until next year. Jane Got a Gun is easily the most troubled production/clusterwhoops in recent memory. Anyway, some highlights from Natalie’s interview:
Growing up before social media: “I was in that lucky window: there was no Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. I went out and got drunk with my friends and no one knew.”
The gender pay gap in Hollywood: “There is an outrageous discrepancy between men and women in Hollywood. Titanic is a huge hit and Leonardo DiCaprio immediately goes to $20million per movie and Kate Winslet doesn’t. But that feels totally like it’s changing. Young women like Jennifer Lawrence and Kristen Stewart – they’re the stars now. I don’t even know who the guys are who are their age.”
She doesn’t feel competition with other actresses: “I don’t get panicky, I know the waves – sometimes it’s quiet, sometimes it’s wild. I feel like I’ve done so much, it allows me to try new things, like directing. I can follow my own curiosity. I’ve been doing this long enough to see that my path is my own. I’m not in a race with anyone.”
Anti-Semitism in Paris: “I think it’s real, it exists. Hatred exists in many forms and in many places and it’s important to be aware of it. If you can take something positive from it, it allows us to have more empathy to others who are experiencing it.”
[From Marie Claire UK via the Daily Mail]
She’s right about J-Law and K-Stew being movie stars these days and the men their age… well, who is there, really? Robert Pattinson is almost 30. There’s Miles Teller. But there are few big-name male stars under 30. As for Natalie feeling like she’s not competing with other actresses… I think she’s being honest to a certain extent. But I think she IS competitive and I don’t understand why that’s a bad thing?
Photos courtesy of Marie Claire UK.
Cares.
so when will jlaw faux fall again?
+10000000000
Sometimes she comes across as pretentious and try hard, but I really can’t help but like Natalie. She’s a way better actress than K-Stoop and J-Law. Even when she was their age she really new how to bring it home in a performance.
I was going to write my own comment to this post, but you pretty much summed up my thoughts perfectly!
She was never a really good actress, im by now means a fan of Jlaws persona and i also dont think she is Meryl Streep Jr. but she certainly is way more talented than both of them and deserved the Oscar more than Portman.
Jeez you have poor sense of judgment.
I don’t like JLaw but she’s good. I loved Black Swan but NP was cringeworthy.
I think Natalie is a very good actress, but I don’t agree that she’s necessarily better than J-Law. (K-Stew, on the other hand…)
Ditto.
I’m better than K-Stew.
I like her too, even though I find her slightly wooden on film (which works for certain roles and doesn’t for others). She’s beautiful and I always have a soft spot for fellow Resting Bitchface sisters.
Portman doesn’t have J-Law’s range as an actress, even though she is very good in intense, serious roles. But yes, she’s clearly miles ahead of K-Stew (who isn’t terrible by any means, just not in the same league as Portman or Lawrence).
In my personal opinion, Jennifer doesn’t really have an extense range. She plays the same type of personality over and over. The context of the characters change but her approach no so much (I’d consider Amy Adams or Jessica Chastain people with a range who completely dissapear in their completely different characters), yet Jennifer has an huge charisma and she plays her cards really well. As forNatalie, she may not be the best actress but she has tried a lot of different type of characters.
I wouldn’t agree that Lawrence plays the same type of personality over and over. In fact, I would have said quite the contrary. Her character in American Hustle, for example, has a totally different personality than Katniss Everdeen – 100% different, I’d have said! However, you’re right about Lawrence’s charisma, and Portman’s readiness to play very different characters.
I haven’t seen American Hustle, but I have seen Silver lining Playbook, and while the characters ARE different on paper (from Katniss), I think that how she portrays them demonstrates the lack of range, honestly.
I feel like she relies almost entirely on stern looks and angry outbursts, and does poorly with subtle transitions in between those, so I’m often confused by her outbursts, because I don’t see them coming, they seem to appear out of nowhere to me.
It’s kinda ignorant to judge how much range an actress has from watching only a few movies they were in. You haven’t even seen all her movies how can you say if she has range or not? The only comment you can have is if she is a good actress in the movies you actually watched.
@Timbutku – I gotta say that I really don’t agree with your point about J-Law relying on a few emotional reactions, and being poor at transitions. One reason why she stands out for me is her ability to convey a complex range of emotions, and to manage the transition between them – just look at the final shot of Catching Fire to see what I mean, very few actresses have that ability.
” Amy Adams or Jessica Chastain ”
YES. They’re both amazing, no one comes close imo. I barely even see Amy Adams or Jessica Chastain on screen, I just see their characters. The fact that they barely exist in the context of celebrity gossip helps for sure.
She’s better than K-Stew, but everyone is better than her.
I think Jennifer Lawrence is more talented than both of them combined, however.
Yeah, Natalie and Kristen are both pretty one-note and lack depth in my opinion even if they do have some uniqueness that makes them stars. Jennifer is really talented since she seems different yet beliavable in all the roles I have seen her.
Agreed
I recently watched Leon: The Professional….just to see what everyone was raving about. She was FLAT and disinterested in that movie too! Like I don’t know how ANYONE thought that Natalie was good in the movie. The only difference between that role and any other role for her age range is that she cursed A LOT, and had crappy parents. That’s it. I thought she was good in the scenes where she and Leon were playing (when she dressed up)…but other than that? She was terrible.
I really like Natalie right now. She’s so chill. Before she tried so hard and it showed, now she seems way more relaxed.
I remember the idea that she was a mediocre actress was certainly not a popular opinion to have. She’s not great, but she can be charming in some roles. She’s quite a lot of fun in comedic roles. Jlaw can be better as an actress overall. I’d say KStew and Portman are about even with Portman having more charisma than KStew.
She is quite lovely.
I agree. I always thought she was beautiful, and a good actress.
Young actresses are much more in demand than young actors and old actors are more in demand than old actresses.
Hollywood is particularly obsessed with young starlets- more than any other film industry in the rest of the world actually.
What I thought.
I was going to write something similar. I’m not sure what point she’s really making when if you look at any list of highest grossing actors, they still dwarf the salaries for women with a few exceptions like Sandra Bullock. But regardless there is still significant inequality and I’m not seeing much improvement. According to Forbes’ the most recent top 10 highest-paid actresses earned a combined total of $226 million, compared to the $419 million that the top men earned. For the vast majority of women in Hollywood, the only way an actress can make any money is if she’s a young starlet cause when she gets too old (over 45 look at that Vanity Fair article) it’s like Hollywood would prefer if they were sent to a nursing home or something. So for most women, this is the only time when they can make the megabucks while men can keep working as they get older with interchangeable fresh faced young starlets. So is this really progress or has she simply bought into the illusion of progress? I don’t see much progress and I think she’s making some false assumptions about changes being made within the industry, but Natalie Portman loves pontificating so far be it from me to stop her.
I agree with her about the new stars comment too, but sometimes yes, she does try too hard. She shouldn’t even have to acknowledge that anyways, BTW i love her cat eye
I’ve never been a big fan but I’m glad she discussed the anti semitism surge in Paris. I recently read an article in Vanity Fair ( Paris is burning ) and was horrified. I have a good friend who was going to take her daughter for a grad gift ( both Jewish) and after referring her to the article she cancelled. It’s truly horrifying and the response buy most Paris officials has been benign and/ or complacent.
I don’t want to live in a world where k stew is one of our biggest actresses. Pretty sure I could give better performances, and I do every day at work when I pretend I care.
She isn’t one of our biggest actreesses
This. Her acting career is overrated because of the name recognition that she got from Twilight. She’s still somewhat popular in the media and she gets a lot of magazine covers, but her actual movie roles aren’t bigger than JLaw, Emma Stone, Shailene Woodley, etc. and she definitely can’t carry a movie on her name alone.
She’s been pretty good in her recent few movies.
Kristen Stewart?????
Stewart isn’t a star. She isn’t on the JLaw league
Unless she knows Hollywood inside info, I don’t think KStew is anywhere near JLaw’s level. The closes one of her peers to Jennifer’s level is maybe Emma Stone or Shailene Woodley. And still Jennifer’s way bigger in the hierarchy. (note I’m not talking acting ability. I’m just saying who’s getting the big parts). I don’t think there’s any under 30 actress that can demand a 20 million paycheck (and get it!) besides JLaw.
This. I think Stewart name was put (maybe by the journalist?) because people know her name. But she isn’t at the same level of JLaw. JLaw is ina own league and then there is Stone. Stewart doesn’t have all the script
I think she was talking about maybe the money.. She referenced Leo and Kate and Kristen made a lot of money from that Twilight franchise..and JLaw is making a lot of money on that film she is doing with Pratt.. Problem is making a big paycheck doesn’t equal Power in the business. YES you have the money; but do you really have the power to control what you do and who you work with. It is also not about winning awards.. Hillary Swank won 2 Oscars at a young age.. and she has NO power in this business.. Time will tell how JLaw is able to use what she has to make big choices and really get power. If she can then that will be impressive.
@Farah
Portman didn’t say that they are on the same level. I think she said two names who people know. Lawrence is in the big league ($20M club)
Stewart doesn’t get the 20 million paycheck but she’s been working with well respected directors lately like Olivier Assayas and Ang Lee. She’s also the 1st American to win a Cesar. In that regard, she is one of the top younger actress.
@renee28 Kristen has been working hard to get out of her mold. But if a top part comes along, I think producers would rather pick Woodley or Lawrence over Kristen. Honestly, I don’t KStew cares, as long as she works. She has more than enough money to be comfortable.
@renee28
Assayans doesn’t make money. In Ang Lee’s movie she has a small role. And cesar doesn’t count in USA (o people who win Donatello are important in USA?). No, Stewart isn’t a top younger actress
@Lolle As far as being a top actress those things do matter. Kristen in on par with Emma when it comes to getting roles. And probably a notch above Shaliene who is still primarily playing teens and not as highly regarded.
A Cesar doesn’t count? It’s one of the three foreign awards that are considered a big deal, along with Cannes and the BAFTA. The trades write those awards up, etc. I understand you don’t like Kristen Stewart, but come on. She’s starring in a film with Michelle Williams and Laura Dern, and Assayas and Ang Lee are a big deal. She’s not on the same level as JLaw or Stone, but she’s definitely a top young actress.
For 2015, I would say Stewart has had a better more productive year than Stone (who has had a string of flops and controversial notices).
Neither of them match JLaw though.
Shes kind of right. I can’t think of any ‘up and coming’, even established actors who are under 25. And I mean respectable will-win-an-oscar-some-day actors.. Miles Teller? Tony Revolori (Grand Budapest, DOPE)?, Ansel Elgort? Cameron Monaghan (Shameless, Gotham)? Dylan O’Brien? Josh Hutcherson? Seriously can’t think of any quality male actors between the ages of 16-25. I feel like there still isn’t a firm ‘new generation’ of young actors/actresses in hollywood yet.. would love to see some diversity in this future generation too.
Actors don’t even get a major push until they’re nearly 30 it’s always been like that. Actresses get taken seriously before actors in hollywood it’s quite obvious and if they’re the only quality young actors you can think of you need to watch way more movies because except Miles Teller and Ansel Elgort those actors aren’t really that good.
@Mark In terms of the paycheck they can demand. That’s really the big difference. But yeah women tend to blow up more when they’re younger than the guys. There’s some stat about how 1 man under 30 has won an oscar for best actor (adrian brody) and 30 women under 30 have won an oscar for best actress. That’s a huge discrepancy.
@Mark Sorry? Didn’t mean to offend you? I meant already in the spotlight and are relatively known (all of the actors i mentioned are pretty well known regaurdless of quality). Considering I myself am 20 years old, i think i’m well tuned into who’s hot/not vs. talented/un-talented, amoungst people my age.
@sarah I think the other point stands. You can’t think of anyone that you believe could win an oscar one day (there’s certainly not many Leo’s, but there weren’t many Leo’s before Leo either), but the reason though is that actors don’t get great juicy parts or that big push until they’re older. Actresses strike young and hot, it’s when they get older they lose out. It’s still better for men overall than for women though.
Miles Teller is 28.
Liam Hemsworth and Shia Labeouf are male movie stars under 30.
Shia’s not a movie star…he’s a mess. Ask the average person and they’ll say Shia Who?
People might not know his name but they know his face because of the Transformers films.
The fact that Hemsworth Junior and Disaster Zone LaBeouf are near the top of the male under 30 star list provides Natalie’s point, in my opinion…If you replaced them in anything with another identikit guy actor, would anyone care? Whereas take J-Law or K-Stew out of a project, and the whole thing falls apart…
I think someone as successful as J-Law at her young age hasn’t happened since the Julia Roberts era.
Before her, I think the media was trying to make people like Natalie Portman into stars of Julia Roberts magnitude, but Natalie never seemed to bring the box-office like J-Law.
I think J-Law might be some kind of anomaly. And K-Stew is more famous because of that Mini-Cooper incident than anything else.
I do think the era of people being as big as someone like Tom Cruise or Leonardo Dicaprio were at 24 is over though. Maybe it’s because so many of them are annoying and talk too much…
If you replaced Kirsten Stewart in Twilight or Jennifer Lawrence in THG they still would have made money, the movie star is dead.
Im going to at Nicholas Hoult. I think he’s great
Michael B. Jordan
Neither of them are movie stars. Shia was for 15 minutes a few years ago, but not anymore.
I think the reason it is harder for Male actors at a younger age to make it is because unlike with Female actresses.. Male actors don’t age out.. They can still play roles with women far younger for longer periods of time. Therefore it is not necessary to cast a younger male for say an action film.. Male actors in their 50s (Tom) or 60’s (Liam) are still doing those roles.. and not to mention romantic comedies.. Younger actresses are in higher demand.. but that is also a double edge sword.. because their time is limited too. And there is a slew of younger women waiting to step into their place.. There are only a handful of female stars.. and I MEAN STARs that can do whatever they want.. in front or behind the camera.. that is what you call STAR POWER..and really there aren’t that many males in the business that can do that either. I can only think of maybe 5 or so..
JLaw has that star power. At least so far. Her big test will now that her franchises are ending. If she can continue getting good performances, critical acclaim and good boxoffice then her high place on Hollywood is guaranteed. Her status is held really high on industry mind. Anyone who works in the industry will tell you that but Hollywood is a lot fast turning against a woman than a man. Nobody else is on her level and this is why she will be fine. She is a completely anomaly but she smart talent girl. I think she the only one who has what it takes to be what People considerado movie star. Even though it’s clear that word has a different meaning these days. She is a modern movie star.
I’m in agreement with the changed definition of Jlaw as a modern day movie star. People go on and on about the movie star being dead, but no the definition has just changed or how they navigate to become one has also changed. Unfortunately, social media is a huge part of our lives and modern day movie stars have to navigate and appeal to that.
This is absolutely true, male actors typically hit their stride/or have their big breakout in their mid 30’s…see Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Viggo Mortensen (age 40 playing Aragorn), George Clooney with ER and then quickly going into movies, Harrison Ford, Tom Hanks…I don’t really see any young male actor under 35 at this point as movie stars (I am guessing defined as people who can open a movie versus people whom Hollywood want to open a movie). There are some on the verge like Hiddleston (if Kong opens big), Teller (if Fantastic Four defies reviews and buzz and opens big and he reigns in some of the douchiness), Charlie Hunnam (King Arthur, if it opens big). But historically women seem to be the most viable in Hollywood when they are young as opposed to the male actors.
The only actors in recent history that I can think of that became massive movie stars (i.e. people who can actually open movies time and time again) in their twenties have been Tom Cruise and Will Smith. And Hollywood has been looking for that young actor to do the same as those two but it has not happened.
I think Kate chose to do very small-budget movies after Titanic. She could have probably gotten a bigger paycheque if she had chosen to do some stupid movie with Ben Affleck.
I do generally agree that women are paid less than men though. I just thought the example she brought up was an odd one.
That hair is God awful. Theres a layer of nest
Her point about Leo Dipcario and Kate Winslet is silly, the reason leo was getting paid a 20 million is because he blew up and got all the attention from the movie, simple as I don’t think it’s sexism. It’s just like Jennifer Lawrence being paid 20 million she got all the attention not Josh or Liam.
And just because they’re aren’t any gigantic 25 year old male movie stars doesn’t mean they’re aren’t a bunch of talented young actors out there. Harvey Weinsten wants cute young actresses not actors, it’s how hollywood works.
I believe Kate even chose to do smaller indie films after Titanic while Leo went for more bigger projects intentionally and got a bit of a Oscar hungry reputation. So not he best excample Not that it is not true that if a film is a big film it is usually the male who benefits. There was a Forbers article recently how often if a franchise is not pre-planned the woman leads might not asked to return for the sequel for excample. In another article it was said that woman has hit they offered are a girfried role in Oscar-bait or a girlfriend role in a superhero film when a male that makes a hit is offered a lead in those.
But I think it is always that stars in 20s are usually women. I mean there had been complaing for lack of young male stars for at least a decade and which men are the peers of Natalie, Keira and Scarlett who are peers and got their fame young? Womens careers usually the best from 20-40 and males are from 35-55. You can see this by looking at ages of Oscar nominees and the leads in blockbusters. So while it is a bit harder for women later men have to struggle usually a lot longer if they want to be big stars.
I disagree with you about the Leo/Kate thing, and here’s why…
Titanic was Kate’s – the journey in the film was her character’s journey. Leo was the fairy godmother, the peter pan–he just had to be charming. I believe the whole world fell in love with Leo because Kate convinced us he was worth falling in love with. He was the catalyst, the romantic ideal (and I use romantic in two senses – love, and romantic in the tradition of the romantic poets – abandon your controlled life, step outside of your bounds, explore the whole world…). The transformation and arc and growth was all hers.
I always felt like she didn’t get nearly enough credit for the success of that movie because she was the POV character. I’m not saying Leo is a fantastic actor, he is, and he’s done some great work since then, as has she. And they were both great in that movie with an undeniable chemistry. He did blow up after that movie–and that’s where unpacking the sexism of the industry comes in.
Terrible photoshoot.
Kristen Stewart was the highest paid actress in 2012. And she was in top 5 in the following 2 years, even though she didn’t have any movies in 2013.
She made history with her Cesar win and it obviously wasn’t overlooked in the industry. As well as her 3 critically acclaimed performances last year. It’s actually very interesting and informative to see such comments from the inside.
It’s still Natalie’s opinion, she is not the whole industry, but she is a part of this industry.
@madchen
Stewart isn’t the big star who she was in 2012 and she isn’t top 5. Hollywood doesn’t care about foreign awards. Natalie said some names, she didn’t say Stewart is good.
Stewart stans are always so delusional
No Zachery, the only one who sounds “delusional” is you
@G
You are the quenn/king of delusional stans who post hate comment on JLaw articles. Pressed
Is namecalling something a smart person has to do now to state their opposing opinion?
I’m a fan of Kristen Stewart’s acting. I don’t need someone’s approval of what movies and actress to enjoy. I thought she was very talented from the first movie I saw her in.
That’s not the popular opinion here but it doesn’t matter to me or affect my preference in movies. I enjoy my movies and let others enjoy theirs. Without belittling and namecallig.
I simply stated some well known facts about her career. Good or bad is an subjective opinion. Being the highest paid actress, even in the past, isn’t.
Have a nice day!
Totally agree on the disparity among young Hollywood where the females seem to be more in demand and successful than their male counterparts. It’s like a role reversal or something as the years go by; the young women get less and less in demand as they get older and the young men become superstars as they get older. This is the True Hollywood Story since Hollywood is mostly ‘ruled’ by old misogynistic and sexist men. So we see young women in their 20s given roles where they are love interest to their ‘fathers’ , waving established and often times more talented actresses in their 30s and above by the way side.
Jennifer Lawrence is a decent actress and I hope this doesn’t become her fate in the near future. This is also why am one of those in support of her taking as much roles and making as much money as she can now cos Hollywood is a fickle place where new ‘It’ actresses are easily made and replaced.
So Kristen is hugely famous, gets great reviews, wins awards , works with Woody Allen, Ang Lee, Olivier Assayas etc .. led a 3.5 billion franchise, is doing movies in all genres – sci fi, comedy, action, drama and her star power allows her to be the face of Chanel/Balenciaga etc
… yet so many jump to dismiss her place as a top actress. The reach is pretty pathetic.
G the pathetic Stewart stan.
Yeah, so pathetic to be a fan of a very successful actress.
I’m sorry that it makes you angry that her career is going so well, but y’know, get over it 😉
@G
Yes, Stewart won Cesar, Bafta (voted online by fans), MTV movie awards, kids choice awards and Razzies. Girl, bye!
Just wanted to say hi 🙂
Trying to change others opinions about everything art related is futile and unnecessary.
Women recognizing the success and achievements of other women and supporting each other is really great. That’s what we should celebrate.
BTW, The rising star BAFTA award is unique: the nominees are selected by the jury of their peers, the public chooses the winner. So the winner is awarded by both public and industry. It’s a great honor in my book.
Sorry but she will always be joke in public eyes. No matter how hard Hollywood tries to make her happen. She is simply bad actress and public doesnt want to see her in movies. That’s why no one casts her in big budget movies after Twilight.
lol Lionsgate cast her in a movie for which they paid a record equaling 7 million for = girl, bye!
@G Lionsgate paid 7 million for the film, how is that record-equaling? While the hate for her is excessive, there is a large amount of delusion on the part of her fans.
I see Michael B Jordan as a star
Sorry, I have to say I don’t think any of them are particularly great actresses, especially K Stew. Jennifer L. lacks so much depth and think she was incredibly undersrving of an Oscar, though no great movies came out that year IMO. At least Natalie will always have The Professional.
J-Law lacks depth? Have you seen Winter’s Bone? Or even the HG films, where she gives great depth to a character that could be two-dimensional in other hands.
I agree with that assessment. The woman has very little depth to some of her performances. Winter’s Bone is good. Sometimes in the HG films. Otherwise, she can give some mediocre performances, all surface, all ham. I chalk it up to experience though. I get annoyed at the idea of Jlaw being given an aged down role, because sorry I would so much prefer the wisdom and experience of an older actress. It pains me what an older actress could bring to some of the roles JLaw’s had.
She looks beautiful here. She’s not wrong and there was an article recently in the Atlantic about how there are several big young American actresses and very few big American actors. I’d actually say there are very few actors regardless of their nationality who are 30 and under. All the big actors are over 30, from Eddie Redmayne to Tom Hardy and Oscar Isaac…and many are near 40 like Leo, Cooper, Idris Elba, etc. Many are also Brits or Australians.
Well Kristen Stewart kinda cant score 10 or 20 millions per movie. She can only score small budget movies where she is payed very limited paychek.
She’s making indies which is what she always did. Those movies have worked out for her and got her the best reviews. Kristen has made her money so she doesn’t have to star in a shitty blockbuster just for the $.
Besides, her Chanel paycheck is more than balancing out the indie work. Kerching 😉
Kristen Stewart is awful. I’m gonna go watch my kitchen paint dry now. More interesting.
Kristen Stewart is always with a scowl, no matter what. One note actress, must thank on her knees everyday for Twilight franchise. Now Jennifer is really talented, althought not in the same level as, someone said above, Jessica Chastain, Amy Adams or Viola Davis.
Amen. In fact all of these women (sorry Amy) should bow down to Viola Davis. The women is phenomenal.
I think Stewart can get better. I don’t want to dismiss her. I always love a good comeback. Hopefully she has a career a la Mchouanghey (how the hell do you spell that man’s name)?
How does Kristen need a ‘comeback’? she’s been getting amazing reviews, won a prestigious award, made 10 movies in the last couple of years, is a Chanel muse, she got a September issue cover
I feel like haters block out a lot of Kristen’s successes – their negative narrative really isn’t reality.
@G I’m not a hater. Comeback in the sense that people aren’t dismissive and sh-tty of her just because she’s KStew. I also do in fact hope she grows the f-ck up. She needs to.