14 DAY TRIAL // Many actors who win an Oscar put it on the mantelpiece, so that all their guests can admire it when they come over to visit. Others, like Kate Winslet, keep it in more intimate places, like the bathroom or the bedside table.
Not Natalie Portman though. She won Best Actress in 2011, for her role in “Black Swan,” directed by Darren Aronofsky, and despite the fact that she campaigned very hard for it (as also did the studio), she now holds it in absolutely no regard.
Portman doesn’t worship false gods
This year, Portman has a new movie coming out, which she stars and directed. She also contributed on the script, so the film’s success is partially dependent on the amount of exposure she brings it.
To promote it, she sat down for a lengthy interview with The Hollywood Reporter, in which she talks politics, her take on the situation in Israel, living in France with her family, in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attack, France vs. the US in terms of quality of life and culture, and her Oscar.
Her comment on what she makes of her much-coveted golden statuette today is the one that’s getting the most attention right now online, mostly from celebrity pundits who deem her a hypocrite.
So here it is in full: “I don’t know where it is. I think it’s in the safe or something. I don’t know. I haven’t seen it in a while. I mean, Darren [Aronofsky] actually said to me something when we were in that whole thing that resonated so deeply. I was reading the story of Abraham to my child and talking about, like, not worshipping false idols. And this is literally like gold men. This is literally worshipping gold idols - if you worship it. That’s why it’s not displayed on the wall. It’s a false idol.”
It’s admirable to hear that someone in the showbiz industry isn’t after material things or acknowledgments of their worth in the form of golden statues, being satisfied with the knowledge that they did their best and they created art.
The hypocrisy of it
However, in saying these things, Natalie is trying to negate her own behavior before the Academy Awards 2011. She went for a role that had definite Oscar potential and she threw her name in the Oscar race and then campaigned like a pro until she got it.
This was not something that was done to her, but something she wanted to do for herself.
Winning Oscars is tied down to the quality of the performance, it’s true, but this is not what wins one, but rather the campaign and the amount of industry backing. Pretty much like everything else in Hollywood, the Oscars are a business.
For Portman to get high on her horse now and claim that she has no idea where she put her Oscar, only the highest industry distinction an actor can aspire to, feels very disingenuous. Particularly so when there’s evidence that both she and the “Black Swan” team lied about the amount of work she did for the film, just so she could win it.
For those of you not familiar with the scandal, ballet dancer Sarah Lane came forward after Portman’s win to claim that she had worked as the actress’ body double on the film. So while Portman said she’d learned most of the routines shown (in 18 months, no less!), in reality, the film used Lane’s body, superimposing Portman’s face over it.