Natalie Portman must not think very highly of her Star Wars films. Or at least she knows that a lot of other people don’t.
[ Related: Natalie Portman Wants To Come Back For The New​ Star Wars! ]
The Thor star was discussing working with late cinema legend Mike Nichols when she gave people a peek behind the curtain at the dark days of the much maligned prequels.
It turns out Nichols (with whom she worked on the play The Seagull and the movie Closer) was an especially big influence on her career — after playing Padme ruined her reputation!
She said:
“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.”
Oh no!
Did people really blame Natalie for those movies? We mean, when Jar Jar was RIGHT THERE??
Fortunately, Natalie says Mike Nichols saved her by talking her up to other directors.
It must have worked, seeing as she went on to with the Best Actress Oscar for Black Swan just a few years later!