Natalie Portman in "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones"

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

Natalie Portman could be cast as Leia and play her own daughter if they recast the old characters...

or better an entirely new actress?


Or get Carry Fisher out of mothballs?

 

[Guy Gardener]

Liz Lemon spent 7 years auditioning the shit out of that role.

Yes, Tina too, to a lesser extent.

 

[dauntless]

 

[sidious618]

God, her acting was so awful in that film. Christensen's I can understand since he's usually rather weak but Portman gave no fucking effort whatsoever. Since here part was so small in III, it's a rare case where I'd have called for her recasting. Just awful. And then come III Christensen actually did a better job than her.

 

[dauntless]

God, her acting was so awful in that film. Christensen's I can understand since he's usually rather weak but Portman gave no fucking effort whatsoever. Since here part was so small in III, it's a rare case where I'd have called for her recasting. Just awful. And then come III Christensen actually did a better job than her.

Who watches Star Wars for the acting?

 

[Guy Gardener]

Deleted scenes from Attack of the Clones has 20 minutes of almost pure Portman fleshing out her love story with that twit.

It almost makes Padme's choice seem grounded and logical to nail him.

 

[Noddy]

Can we have some photos of her in the black leather dress please?

 

[Turtletrekker]

God, her acting was so awful in that film. Christensen's I can understand since he's usually rather weak but Portman gave no fucking effort whatsoever. Since here part was so small in III, it's a rare case where I'd have called for her recasting. Just awful. And then come III Christensen actually did a better job than her.

The truth is that an actor is only as good as her/his director. And as much respect as I have for George Lucas, directing is far from his strong suit.

 

[Gaith]

@Turtletrekker: that is one sick pic. And misogynistic.

<pic snip>

Oh man, she does look super-young there. Also: attached earlobes. Go figure.

 

[Forbin]

She's a stunning young lady.

Directing: yeah, in her first job after Star Wars she's quoted as saying something like "It's SO good to be directed instead of just told where to stand for the effects!"

 

[CorporalClegg]

Really, the only time she was truly bad was when she was opposite Christensen--which was the majority of her scenes, unfortunately. The few times she was playing-off someone else, she was fine.

Between being forced to perform against a cardboard cut-out and a director who wasn't telling her what he wanted, she eventually stopped caring. And who can blame her?

 

[The Old Mixer]

Part of the problem was that practically everyone in the prequels talked with pseudo-Shakespearean formality. Amongst the central trio in II and III, only McGregor seemed to be able to pull it off with any panache.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Find me the character from Shakespeare's body of work who shares Jar Jar's accent?

 

[Nick Ryder]

"To'sa be... or notsa to'sa be? That issa question okyday?"

 

[sidious618]

While a director definitely has an impact, Portman has a history of choosing which films she actually put any effort into and it's clear she didn't with the Star Wars prequels.

 

[Guy Gardener]

But there must have been a point in the first one where she chose to give up.

On day one, she should have been over brimming with optimism.

Unfortunately everything is filmed out of order and there's hundreds of hours on the cutting room floor.

 

[Gaith]

While a director definitely has an impact, Portman has a history of choosing which films she actually put any effort into and it's clear she didn't with the Star Wars prequels.

How much effort can one really put into being calm, cool, collected, dignified, and regal, though? IIRC, she didn't even get to sass anyone in all three of her movies the way Leia mocked Vader in her first scene. Lucas almost certainly never gave her his famous ANH instruction of "faster, and more intense". Unfair criticism is unfair, IMHO.

 

[Guy Gardener]

She played a handmaiden, and a princess simultaneously in the first one.

Totally parent trapping it.

That has to require a little acting, or a shit load of kabuki make up.

Her stand-in was a whale riding Maori.

A lot of Make up.

 

[Set Harth]

She played a handmaiden, and a princess simultaneously in the first one.

But not both at the same time, that's what Keira was for.

Her stand-in was a whale riding Maori.

That was the actress playing the Queen of Naboo at the time of Padme's death in ROTS.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Keira.

Crikey.

Her career has skyrocketed since those dark days.