Natalie Portman’s regrettable support of Roman Polanski: “It was a mistake”
Natalie Portman has been a huge star ever since she burst onto the scene as a teenager with Léon: The Professional, playing massive roles in huge franchises, nominated for every major award going, and has recently cemented herself as a savvy producer, but when it comes to major Hollywood names being embroiled in controversy, her name has also been dragged more than most.
She faced significant backlash surrounding the use of a dance double in Black Swan, as some felt that Sarah Lane, the dancer who stood in for key scenes, wasn’t given enough credit for her performance, while Portman won ‘Best Actress’. There has been much debate surrounding her position on her birth country of Israel, where she has highlighted the humanitarian crisis facing Palestinians, but has also been outspoken in her support for her colonising country, and then there’s her relationship with one of cinema’s most problematic figures, Roman Polanski.
In 2009, Portman starred in a spoof perfume commercial directed by the disgraced director. Working with Polanski, who has lived in exile ever since he pled guilty to raping an underage girl, is a sure-fire way to get people to hate you.
The Oscar-winning star made things worse for herself when she signed a petition calling for Polanski’s freedom following his 2009 arrest in Switzerland. Nine years later, however, it seemed as if she had changed her mind.
“I very much regret it,” Portman told Buzzfeed News in 2018, “I take responsibility for not thinking about it enough. Someone I respected gave it to me and said, ‘I signed this. Will you too?’ And I was like, sure. It was a mistake. The thing I feel like I gained from it is empathy towards people who have made mistakes. We lived in a different world, and that doesn’t excuse anything. But you can have your eyes opened and completely change the way you want to live. My eyes were not open.”
The list of famous names on the Polanski petition is disappointingly long, with a number of famous directors sticking their necks out for their excommunicated colleague, including Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson, and David Lynch, while Adrien Brody, who won an Oscar for his role in The Pianist, also lent his weight to the campaign, as well as Tilda Swinton, Gael Garcia Bernal, and Monica Bellucci also expressing their support.
At the risk of editorialising, I think the case surrounding Polanski is cut and dry. Why anyone would want to support somebody who was not only accused of such a heinous crime but who pleaded guilty to it and then fled justice is totally beyond me.
The fact that the Hollywood system has backed Polanski for all these years is disgusting enough, but for so many stars to act in his movies and publicly support him is beyond the pale. While Portman has had the good grace to apologise for signing the petition, she should have known better in the first place.
Polanski’s arrest in Switzerland did not end in his being extradited to the US. At the time of writing, he is still alive, aged 92, and has released his most recent film in 2023.
