The iconic sci-fi blockbuster that nearly ruined Natalie Portman's acting career

The iconic sci-fi blockbuster that nearly ruined Natalie Portman's acting career

In 1994, French director Luc Besson unveiled his latest project to the world: «Léon: The Professional». This action thriller centers on the hitman (played by Jean Reno), who ends up taking a young woman named Mathilda under his wing after corrupt Drug Enforcement Administration agent Norman Stansfield (Gary Oldman) kills the girl. family of him. The actress behind Léon's protégé was none other than Natalie Portman, and her decision to join the production at just 11 years old marked the beginning of her journey to the big screen.

 

Portman's portrayal of Mathilda did not go unnoticed, and with each subsequent role she took on, her value in Hollywood grew dramatically. As the 1990s progressed, she landed minor roles in movies like "Heat" and "Mars Attacks!" before really making waves in the industry throughout the 2000s. "V for Vendetta", "The Darjeeling Limited" and "Brothers" stand out as some of their standout titles of the decade, with "Black Swan" , «Thor» and «Annihilation», among others, which keep her busy. in the 2010s. Suffice to say, her filmography is nothing if not impressive.

 

Natalie Portman is now a household name in the 2020s, having taken on several career-defining projects for her, winning numerous awards, and using her platform to spread awareness about issues near and dear to her. However, thanks to a now-loved sci-fi blockbuster, all of this success might very well never have materialized.

Revenge of the Sith did his career no favors

1999 was a big year for Natalie Portman as she landed the role of Padmé Amidala, the future wife of Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christiansen) and the mother of his twins, Luke (Mark Hamill) and Leia (Carrie Fisher), in » Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace". While the news of more "Star Wars" movies from the mind of George Lucas himself was exciting, it immediately became clear that this new trilogy would be very different from the last. Sadly, that sentiment was not a positive one, with the fan base practically fracturing upon its release.

 

While widely considered to be the strongest of the trilogy, "Revenge of the Sith" did Natalie Portman's career no favors. As for the characters, in "The Phantom Menace", Padmé was introduced as the intelligent and determined queen of Naboo, and in "Attack of the Clones", she showed that she was not afraid to take the fight to her enemies in the field. of battle. . However, when "Revenge of the Sith" came around, those features largely disappeared, relegating it to a plot device that existed solely to sell viewers on Anakin's turn to the dark side.

 

As a result of Padmé's demotion as a main character, Portman didn't have much to do in "Revenge of the Sith." Her job amounted to uttering a few lines and crying before dying of sadness, something the movie itself did a poor job of explaining, right before the credits rolled. Overall, she did what she could with Lucas's notoriously weak dialogue, but it clearly wasn't enough. By her own admission to New York Magazine in 2014, she even had trouble finding roles in the wake of the trilogy ending.

 

Fortunately, it didn't take long for the stigma of "Revenge of the Sith" to wear off. Natalie Portman's career is still very much intact and hopefully she will continue to be that way in the future.