The movie Natalie Portman regrets making: “It was a disaster”
There are countless actors with films to their name that they would rather forget, with credits in movies that have been butchered by critics and audiences alike and exist as a stain on their reputation. Whether it be Demi Moore and her performance in Striptease or Kristen Stewart in Twilight, there are many actors who have been both harshly and fairly judged for their roles in less-than-wonderful films, leading to a complex legacy as they both grant the actors fame while also hammering a nail into their coffin.
This is something that Natalie Portman has formed her own strange relationship with over the years, starring in some huge franchise and independent films that were obliterated upon release. While some of them are still regarded as awful films, there are some that have redeemed themselves over the years and have found new audiences, with their reputation morphing from something that is shunned to a story that is beloved.
Portman has had a hugely eclectic career, especially given that she began as a child after her performance in the controversial Luc Besson film Leon: The Professional. Since then, the actor found global fame through starring in one of the most successful franchises of all time, with her role in the new Star Wars films sending her to stardom and moving her career in new directions. After this, she worked with bold auteurs like Darren Aronofsky, Terrence Malick, Mike Nichols and Todd Haynes, proving her versatility and expansive taste in cinema.
However, for as much success as she has found, she has also been met with equal levels of criticism and floppery, with Portman being shamed for her role in what has been deemed the worst Marvel film of all time. Thor: The Dark World, directed by Alan Taylor in 2013, has been slammed by nearly everyone who has ever watched it, with the story following Thor and Jane Foster on a gruelling mission to save the planet.
But the dialogue and direction is completely abysmal, with Portman describing her relationship to the film and others that have been slammed by critics, saying, “I mean, I had it with The Professional too. It was slaughtered critically, and now, despite having been in Marvel and Star Wars movies, it’s the main thing people come up to me about. That and Star Wars are two examples of things that when they came out, I was like, ‘Oh, my God, this is a disaster.’ And then 20 years later — actually, 30 years later for The Professional — it’s beloved.”
It just goes to show how fickle our system is when evaluating works of art, with some people being unanimously adamant that something is terrible and later being shocked that we ever hated it.
While there is no denying the awfulness of Thor: The Dark World, other films have since been re-evaluated in a kinder light, with now cult classic films like Love, Actually and The Shawshank Redemption being revered despite their initially lukewarm and chilly reception.
