Natalie Portman on playing complex women characters

Brut America

"There's a historical oversimplification of women in cinema."  Natalie Portman gets candid with Brut's Augustin Trapenard about how she prepares to play complex characters during the promotion of her film "May December" at the Festival de Cannes.  #Cannes2023

Transcript

00:00If you could change one thing in your past, what would you change?

00:07Wow, that's a great question. I don't know. I try not to think about, like, changing things

00:14because you can't. So it seems like a frustrating exercise.

00:19What struck me in May-December is the complexity of the characters in the film, and especially

00:22the women characters, who are psychologically, morally ambiguous all the way. How rare is

00:28it in movies, Natalie?

00:30It's incredible to get the opportunity to play characters in their full humanity. And

00:36I think the more variety we see of how women can behave, the more possibility there is

00:42and the more acceptance of women as humans.

00:45But is there a lack in cinema of that kind of complexity for women?

00:48I think that, yes, there's a historical, you know, oversimplification, absolutely. And

00:56it's exciting to be at a moment in storytelling that feels like it's allowing, first of all,

01:03more voices, more voices that are reflective of society to tell the stories, but then also

01:09to have those stories be complex, human.

01:12How is your French?

01:13It's okay.

01:14You don't speak French?

01:15I do, but I'm shy about it.

01:18So in May-December, you're an actress preparing for a role. What do you need to create a character?

01:24How do you process?

01:26I usually do whatever research I can. Of course, if there's, you know, if I'm playing Jackie

01:32Kennedy, there's so much to dig into historical film, audio recordings, books.

01:40But you've got notes every time?

01:42I do have notes. I do have notes. I mean, sometimes they're my notes of imagination

01:48that are based off of the script, and sometimes they're, you know, full of extreme research.

01:53So the film is very much about confronting one's past and how difficult it is. And I

01:56remember this sentence from your character,

01:58Sometimes I feel the weight of the past.

02:01A beautiful sentence. Do you sometimes feel the weight of the past?

02:05Yeah, I think probably everyone who's lived a certain amount of time does at a certain

02:11point that that's part of what defines you and part of what is your, part of your identity.

02:17But it's interesting for you because a lot of your past is literally on screen. You've

02:22been an actress for so long, you can literally watch on film 30 years of growing up.

02:27Yes, absolutely. It's definitely surreal to have this kind of external memory, along with

02:35my internal, of course, experience and memory, internal experience of what I've lived. And

02:41I always think that, you know, now young people are living the same thing that I lived. Everyone

02:49is, because social media, everything's captured of your life the whole way. It's a completely

02:56different way for a whole generation to grow up.

02:58And on that point precisely, it's pretty difficult for your character in the film to draw a line

03:03between fiction and real life. How is it for the actress that you are?

03:08Well, I think that it's a question that I'm obsessed with is performance and, you know,

03:15how we perform in our lives, how we perform our social roles, how we perform, you know,

03:21different aspects of ourselves with different people and how we even perform with ourselves.

03:25I mean, I think that's so strong in the movie with the mirrors, the camera as a mirror,

03:30the camera as reflecting our innermost self or our performance of self. And that's just

03:38something I loved about this piece because it really asks a lot of those questions.

03:43You're an actor, Natalie, but you're also a producer now. What kind of power does it

03:47give you, especially in storytelling?

03:49It's so exciting to get to produce and to be able to nurture and support talent to create

03:56their artistic visions. And it's been really incredible to also foster the kind of storytelling

04:02I want to make.

04:04And five years ago, you were an advocate for a revolution of desire in the film industry.

04:09To what extent are you happy with how things have evolved now?

04:13I think that the conversation has been going on strong, so I'm very happy that it's part

04:22of the conversation constantly. But we obviously have a very far way to go still to get to

04:27true revolution.

04:29That's right. We talk a lot about Me Too, but we have forgotten about the Time's Up

04:33movement, for which you really fought at the time. Stepping back, what did you find exciting

04:38in this movement specifically?

04:40I think the community of women, to be in community with so many women in our industry was really

04:48incredible in terms of as a support and as a power force was just extraordinary. And

04:57to be able to share experience and to be able to fight together to try and get ourselves

05:04better valued was really extraordinary.

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