Natalie Portman Movies Almost Hit By Light Saber After The Force Was Not With Star Wars Roles

Natalie Portman movies almost dried up after her star turn in one of the biggest film franchises of all time. The force was not strong with this one as the future "Black Swan" actress was overlooked time and time again after playing what is now an iconic role.

Portman was 13 years old when she was cast as Padme Amidala in George Lucas' Star Wars prequel trilogy, starting with The Phantom Menace, and ending with 2005's Revenge Of The Sith. Padme Amidala was Anakin Skywalker's love interest in the Star Wars prequels from 1999 to 2005

Natalie Portman, whose latest movie is "Knight of Cups" told New York Magazine that Star Wars almost ruined her career.

"Everyone thought I was a horrible actress," after taking on the Star Wars prequel trilogy, The V for Vendetta actress said in a recent interview with NY Magazine.

Late filmmaker Mike Nichols directed Portman on the stage play "The Seagull" at the time. Portman was nominated for an Oscar for Nichols' 2005 film "Closer."

"Star Wars had come out around the time of Seagull, and everyone thought I was a horrible actress... I was in the biggest-grossing movie of the decade, and no director wanted to work with me. Mike wrote a letter to Anthony Minghella and said, 'Put her in Cold Mountain, I vouch for her.' And then Anthony passed me on to Tom Tykwer, who passed me on to the Wachowskis," Portman told NY Magazine.

The director, who died in November, tried to help out the young actress by recommending her to other directors.

The Wachowski brothers cast her in their 2006 thriller "V for Vendetta."

"I worked with Milos Forman a few years later," she said. "He wrote a letter so that I could get asylum in the U.S.' He did that for 50 people, and it doesn't make any one of us feel less special."

Portman won the Best Actress Award in 2011 for her work in "Black Swan."

Natalie Portman is playing in the superhero film "Thor: The Dark World" as the scientist Jane Foster.

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natalie portman movies
Star Wars
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