Natalie Portman calls method acting “a luxury” says she has never tried it
Actor Natalie Portman has explained why she’s always shied away from the method technique, which she labelled a “luxury” for men.
Portman has played a wide variety of characters throughout her Academy Award-winning career, but despite many of her contemporaries opting to take up method acting, it has never been possible for the Black Swan star to experiment with the skill.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Portman opened up on the fact that method acting is not a part of the profession that everyone is privy to. “I’ve gotten very into roles, but I think it’s honestly a luxury that women can’t afford,” she explained.
The actor added, “I don’t think that children or partners would be very understanding of, you know, me making everyone call me ‘Jackie Kennedy’ all the time.”
Portman is well known for having done intensive preparation work for her role in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, training as a ballet dancer for several months and reducing her diet to almonds and carrots.
However, Portman suggests that she finds it hard to completely separate from her day-to-day life as a woman and a mother, even when she is playing a particularly intense role.
Carey Mulligan has also recently opened up on method acting and her experience with it on Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, telling Variety. “There was a part of me as an actor that always felt like, ‘Well, I’m never going to be one of those actors that keeps their dialect in between takes.’”
She added, “There was a part of me that was slightly held back, or maybe nervous of completely committing to something. But that was what Bradley asked, basically, at the beginning of the process. He was like, ‘If you’re going to do this, you just have to fully, fully do it.’ When he said that, I was like, ‘Okay, I’m going to absolutely do it all.’”
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