Natalie Portman doesn't like Star Wars!?

[Zebra]

Not only does she not like it but she doesn't think girls in general like Star Wars.

From an article in USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/life/enter/movies/2002/2002-05-10-star-wars.htm)


Natalie Portman, who plays Padmé Amidala — love interest of Anakin and future mother of Luke and Leia — says the romantic angle should help draw new fans to the franchise, not drive old ones away. She admits she wasn't much interested in Wookies and droids before signing on for Menace.

"I hadn't even seen a Star Wars movie until I got the part," Portman says. "I mean, come on. I'm a girl. But in this one, you've a hunky guy in Hayden. Even when he's not being lovey-dovey, the girls can focus on his muscles when he's fighting. There's always something for the girls to keep their eyes on."


So 'girls' the only thing that will really interest you in STATOC is Annie's muscles?

[Legomancer]

Tee hee! Math is hard!

[KneadToKnow]

Um, not to nitpick too finely, Zebra, but you've got a tense problem in your argument. You say she doesn't like Star Wars, but the article says she wasn't much interested. I see nothing to indicate that she doesn't care for it now.

Besides which, it's a job, not a religion.

Unless your the UK Census Bureau.

[slortar]

I assumed when I read the title that she didn't like the movies now. I wouldn't have been surprised. By all reports, spending several months working Lucas does that to people...

[slortar]

Er, working "with" Lucas, not working him. That would just be a little...sickening...

[Knowed Out]

I heard* that the actor who played the unmasked Darth in Ep VI told a frined he got a part in "some science fiction movie."

* my cousin told me, so I don't really know if this is 100% true

[Kilt-wearin' man]

You've gotta bear in mind - she's 20 years old. Many people her age (and slightly older) consider Star Wars to be "before their time" and therefore not of interest.

[BlackKnight]

Originally posted by KneadToKnow
Besides which, it's a job, not a religion.
Unless your the UK Census Bureau.
*ahem*
http://www.snopes.com/religion/jedi.htm

[Sunshine]

Well, I'm a girl and I LOVED the Star Wars movies. Even Menace, although admittedly not as much. I was born in '73, so I was what...six? when Star Wars came out. From then on, I quit Barbie and became a Star Wars collector. I had it all! X-wings, tie fighters, the Death Star and even two Millenium Falcons. And when Jedi came out, I entered a contest to win tickets to opening day here in Denver and WON! My dad and I got these giant golden tickets, like a foot long and t-shirts and stuff and I got to take the day off school since we were going to the first showing. It was awesome.

Um..so... :P to you, Natalie Portman! A girl indeed. Harrumph.

[Zebra]

She seems to think that the average girl will only be interested in the romance or the beef cake. (or in this case veal cake)

Besides sould we not compare the contrast the relative 'hunkyness' os Hayden to Harrison Ford?

[Troy McClure SF]

Originally posted by Kilt-wearin' man
You've gotta bear in mind - she's 20 years old. Many people her age (and slightly older) consider Star Wars to be "before their time" and therefore not of interest.

I respectfully disagree... I'm 20 and I gotta say, lightsabers are cool no matter how young you are. So say my friends as well.

msmith537: A love triangle between a space pirate, a naive dirt-farmer and his spoiled sister is cool. Blowing up planets with super-lasers is cool. Yodaisms are cool.

[Guinastasia]

Or Mark Hamill for that matter? (I mean, c'mon-look at him running around all sweaty in TESB, and those baby blues! YUM!)

[astorian]

Pssst... Alec Guinness thought the first "Star Wars" film was a bit silly, and eventually came to loathe the mania that surrounded the whole series. He appeared briefly in the sequels only because they paid him so well.

Once, Sir Alec was accosted by a teenage boy and his mother. She told him, "Oh, Mr. Guinness, my son is a huge fan of yours, he's seen "Star Wars" at least 200 times!" Guinness reportedly shook his head in disgust, asked her if they were both daft, and told them never to watch it again!

[Larry Mudd]

IIRC correctly, Sir Alec agreed to give the young man his autograph on the condition that he wouldn't watch the movie again. (If this anecdote is true.) Somehow his supposed disdain for Star Wars doesn't jive with his being the only one savvy enough to arrange for his contract to pay points off the net rather than a flat fee.

I can understand his being a bit miffed if a kid had the idea that Alec Guinness = Ben Kenobi, since it certainly wasn't his most inspired role-- Imagine putting your heart and soul into something as brilliant as Kind Hearts and Coronets, and then, as the end of your career approaches, thinking that people might remember you forever for something you could have done in your sleep. Bummer. I think that Alec Guinness's mere presence in Star Wars lent it, (and by extension, the entire genre,) a certain credibility that it didn't have in 1976. (2001 or no 2001.)

And James Earl Jones didn't even want to be credited for Star Wars, and indeed wasn't, until they inserted it into the video release.

As far as the romance in Attack of the Clones attracting a wider audience, I think Natalie is bang-on-- The "Romance" in the original trilogy was cardboard and goofy. "I love you." "I know." --sure, it's funny.

But the romance in AOTC is much more sophisticated and compelling. I've said it before, but it bears repeating-- it's like Jane Austen collaborated on the script. These characters have a much more palpable inner life, and the basic conflict between the of both Aniken and Padme's social obligations and their personal needs is handled in an involving, non-sappy way. (IMHO-YMMV ;)) Also, the themes of filial, paternal, and maternal bonds and fleshed out in a much more mature and satisfying way. Star Wars is growing up, and I think that this film will appeal to wider audience than any of the other films. I'm planning to take my mum to it -- and I'm sure she'll love it.

[Terminus Est]

Originally posted by Sunshine
Well, I'm a girl and I LOVED the Star Wars movies. Even Menace, although admittedly not as much. I was born in '73, so I was what...six? when Star Wars came out. From then on, I quit Barbie and became a Star Wars collector. I had it all! X-wings, tie fighters, the Death Star and even two Millenium Falcons.

How you doin'?
Can I come over to you house to play? ;)

[Lamia]

I still can't believe that anyone thinks that any girl, or boy for that matter, who wouldn't have otherwise watched the movie is going to be lured into the theater to see it because of the romance angle. If somone is only looking to watch a love story, they sure as hell aren't going to go see Star Wars.

The vast majority of girls who do go to Star Wars would have gone to see it anyway.

IMHO, the new male lead isn't even that hunky. They're lucky they've still got Ewan McGregor; I do know a few young ladies who are going just to see him.

[Acsenray]

If I were being paid a ton of money to play the part of a poorly written character in a bad movie with idiotic dialogue, I might have mixed feelings about it too.

[Guinastasia]

Actually, I thought the boy Guinness told not to watch the movie was a kid-about maybe six or seven? From what I've read, he started crying and his mother got mad.

[astorian]

I don't know if I got all the details right of the Gunness anecdote I passed along. I heard the story 3rd hand. I related it only to show that Natalie Portman is hardly the first actor in the "Star Wars" series who wasn't totally enamored with the whole project.

I don't think Alec Guinness HATED the movies- he probaly thought, at first, that they were good, silly, harmless entertainments. But the excessive hype and media overkill eventually irritated him no end. He was happy to have the money, of course! Like many veteran British actors, he regularly appeared films he thought were beneath him (Laurence Olivier did "The Betsy," after all) because the money was good.

*

For what it's worth, I've seen all the "Star Wars" movies, some more than once. I thought the first one was great, and "The Empire Strikes Back" was even better. "Return of the Jedi" was okay, but rather uninspired, so I figured Lucas should end the series right there, on a SEMI-high note.

Instead, nearly two decades later, he decided to resurrect the series. And "Phantom Menace" was mighty weak. It showed he was no more inspired than he had been in 1983.

[Charlie Tan]

IIRC Liam Neeson was less than thrilled about his part in Ep.1. Can't find a quote, though.
However, Portman strikes me as a very smart young women. Her quotes (http://us.imdb.com/Bio?Portman,+Natalie) at IMDB tells me that what she said in the OP, might be ironic. It would fit other things she said.
Then again, she seems to be a little too precocious, so maybe it's that instead.

[king of spain]

I'm a 19-year-old girl, and I am dreading the AOTC love story bits. I do enjoy a good love story, but Anakin and Amidala don't particularly interest me as characters and I really don't have a lot of faith that they're going to change that. On the other hand, I enjoyed the original series love story a lot - yeah, it wasn' t all that complex or anything, but I cared about Han and Leia and that makes all the difference.

I'm still really excited about AOTC, though. You know why? Because it has lightsaber fights! Who doesn't like lightsaber fights? Lightsabers!

So, yeah, if Portman was being serious she's full of crap.

[Crusoe]

Why is she full of crap? Why does she have to like the film?

[king of spain]

She doesn't - did you read my whole post? I was referring to the "I mean, I'm a girl" part, where she implies that girls only care about beefcake & romance and not adventure.

[Crusoe]

Ah. Your last post didn't specifically say you were referring to the "I'm a girl" part of her comments. Re-reading the OP, though, that makes sense. Apologies.

[Cat Fight]

"I didn't have this undying need to be an actress. I didn't have that fire in me ever -- at any point. And still, I don't think I have that within me." (imdb.com)

Hey, SHE said it.

[Odesio]

Originally posted by Lamia
I still can't believe that anyone thinks that any girl, or boy for that matter, who wouldn't have otherwise watched the movie is going to be lured into the theater to see it because of the romance angle. If somone is only looking to watch a love story, they sure as hell aren't going to go see Star Wars.


It might be true or at least the studios think that advertising the romance angle will bring more girls in. That's the only reason I can think movies like Pearl Harbor have romance sub plots.

Marc

[jayjay]

Originally posted by Legomancer
Tee hee! Math is hard!

Why does not liking a sci-fi franchise equal being stupid?

Natalie Portman is sooo not stupid. She's a junior at Harvard and speaks three languages besides English fluently. Legally Blond she ain't.

jayjay

[Guinastasia]

From what I read about Neeson, it was more he wasn't excited about the whole fanboy base. Other than that, every article seemed like he LOVED playing a Jedi. He loved having a lightsaber, and all that.

[Charlie Tan]

Maybe I should take back my earlier post. There was an interview with Portman in a Swedish newspaper. She said exactly the same thing. I still have the impression that she's not stupid (then again I speak three languages, and I'm not all that smart, just good att BS).
So my new line of thought is that she's been prepped for pressjunket with rehearsed answers that the studio think is appropriate

[Abe]

Originally posted by jayjay
Why does not liking a sci-fi franchise equal being stupid?

I think Legomancer was referring not just to Portman's apparent disdain of Star Wars and science fiction in general (which, like it or not, is a seminal part of literature and film) but to her comment as quoted by Zebra. That was not a very intelligent comment.

Natalie Portman is sooo not stupid. She's a junior at Harvard and speaks three languages besides English fluently. Legally Blond she ain't.

It seems that every time someone's intelligence is questioned it turns out that they went to Harvard and speak three languages, facts that ought to demonstrate somehow that the person in question can't be stupid. Not so: what such cases actually demonstrate is that trilingual Harvard alumni are morons.

But seriously. Studying at Harvard is no indication of intelligence; speaking three languages is perhaps a slightly better indicator, but not necessarily much. In the case of actors speaking to the public, it is words that ultimately indicate apparent intelligence, and Portman's words fall short of being terribly bright. Perhaps those lines were fed to her, perhaps they are her own words, but in this business appearance is everything.

Anyway, I'm sure she raved about the insipid romance in Titanic and Pearl Harbor too....

By the way, on an interview a few days ago I heard Ewan McGregor explain how he was surprised and disappointed by the title "Attack of the Clones". I have to agree with him, that is a sorry and uninspired title indeed. Months before the release of Episode 2, the Cartoon Network was running ads for the following I Am Weasel special feature:

I.R. Strikes Back:
ATTACK OF THE KLOWNS

I didn't see the special, but the ad, which had I.R. Baboon ominously sniffing his finger to the soundtrack of heavy Darth Vader breathing, cracked me up.

[Larry Mudd]

Originally posted by jayjay


Why does not liking a sci-fi franchise equal being stupid?

Natalie Portman is sooo not stupid.

"Math is hard" is a reference to a notorious talking Barbie which said that (amongst other things.) Legomancer wasn't deriding Ms. "Portman"'s intelligence, but (I believe) making a comment about arbitrary cultural ideas about what girls should or shouldn't like.

[Kilt-wearin' man]

Originally posted by jjtm


I respectfully disagree... I'm 20 and I gotta say, lightsabers are cool no matter how young you are. So say my friends as well.

msmith537: A love triangle between a space pirate, a naive dirt-farmer and his spoiled sister is cool. Blowing up planets with super-lasers is cool. Yodaisms are cool.

Yeah, but since when does "most kids" or "many people" really apply to the folks on this message board or the people they hang out with?

[Charlie Tan]

[slight hi-jack]
Then again, She's from Isreal. And people from smaller countries/speaking weirder languages/ have to learn more forreign languages.
In Sweden we start with English at 9 (and I think you can start at 7) third language at 13 and the 4th at 16.
Add to that a large influx of immigrants with kids who speak yet another of 78 languages....
It's not all that strange.
[/slight hijack]