Quotes about Natalie
“She’s an effortless creature. It’s so great when you have expectations for a person you’ve admired and then they’re as special as you imagined.”
– Shawn Hatosy, co-star in Anywhere But Here – Source Unknown – Date Unknown
“When I met her, you could tell she was kind of a prodigy.”
– Michael Mann, director of Heat. – Entertainment Weekly (USA) – January, 1996
“Natalie’s got her head on straight. She’s going to be fine. I’m not at all worried about her.”
– Timothy Hutton, co-star in Beautiful Girls – Daily Bruin (USA) – February, 1996
“Natalie absolutely blew me out of my seat in The Professional, and after one reading of the script for Beautiful Girls, I knew she was the only actress who could play this character.”
– Ted Demme, director of Beautiful Girls – LA Times (USA) – February, 1996
“I’d never seen Natalie in anything prior to the first time we met when she came in to interview, but she immediately impressed me as an unusually natural and intelligent actress – she has a great future.”
– Woody Allen, director of Everyone Says I Love You – LA Times (USA) – February, 1996
“At fifteen, Natalie Portman has already been compared to Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn.”
– Harpers and Queen (USA) – October, 1996
“This school-room cutie who has more acting ability in her little toe than Demi Moore and Jennifer Aniston combined.”
– Harpers and Queen (USA) – October, 1996
“Stardom can do its worst, but on a current form it is not going to trip up Natalie Portman.”
– Harpers and Queen (USA) – October, 1996
“In 10 years she’s going to run the entire world, and I want to be one of her assistants.”
– Ted Demme, director of Beautiful Girls – People (USA) – November, 1996
“A gift to mankind; the next Elizabeth Taylor in the making”
– Isaac Mizrahi – Neon (USA) – February, 1997
[Talking about filming Leon] “Natalie was camera-ready when she arrived. They literally could have gone into production without a stitch of costume or rehearsal”
– Todd Thaler, casting director for Leon – Neon (USA) – February, 1997
[Talking about the first Anne Frank read through] “Natalie was so magnificent that not only was she crying during the last scene, but so were the other actors; their mouths were agape at this girl”
– David Stone, Broadway Producer – Boston Magazine (USA) – October, 1997
“She has a wisdom beyond her years, she is so mature, she can handle anything”
– Linda Lavin, Anne Frank co-star – Women.com (USA) – May, 1999
“I wanted somebody who could be commanding, but who could still be young. I was looking for somebody who was smart and strong and a terrific actress, and Natalie met all those qualifications”
– George Lucas, Star Wars Director – Vanity Fair (USA) – May, 1999
“When we get vain about what we’re doing, it’s always interesting to see a child who knows everything… She was born to this. She’s formidable.”
– George Hearn, co-star in The Diary of Anne Frank – Vanity Fair (USA) – May, 1999
“The scenes with her were the scenes I looked forward to the most, because I knew there would be real clarity coming from her.”
– Timothy Hutton, co-star in Beautiful Girls – Vanity Fair (USA) – May, 1999
“She’s getting ready to be a huge star. I’ve already told her to remember the little people she used to know when it comes to giving out parts.”
– Michael Rapaport, co-star in Beautiful Girls – Vanity Fair (USA) – May, 1999
“Natalie is someone who is so professional and prepared that there’s not a lot of coaxing that needs to go on. She has amazing access to springs of emotion. I’d work with her again in a flash”
– Susan Sarandon, co-star in Anywhere But Here – Vogue (UK) – August, 1999
“Natalie possesses an amazing sense of grace in everything she does”
– Susan Sarandon, co-star in Anywhere But Here – Vogue (UK) – August, 1999
“There are not enough superlatives for this girl. She is such a gifted actress and then, to top it off, what she looks like! I have this strong feeling that she is going to be a legend.”
– Isaac Mizrahi – Vogue (UK) – August, 1999
“Natalie is so professional and so smart and so easy to work with”
– Susan Sarandon, Anywhere But Here Co-star – Toronto Sun (Canada) – September, 1999
“Anywhere But Here is Portman’s movie, all the way… her beauty has now become so disabling that you should not attempt to drive or operate heavy machinery for twelve hours after viewing this picture.”
– Anthony Lane – The New Yorker – November, 1999
“When she walks in the room, you fall a little bit in love with her”
– Andrew Southman, Mademoiselle cover photographer –Mademmoiselle (USA) – November, 1999
“There’s a great mystery to Natalie, We’re very close on one level, but also there’s a great mystery about her. I think it’s a certain kind of control that she has, a certain maturity.”
– Wayne Wang, Anywhere But Here Director – CNN.com (USA) – November, 1999
“I wouldn’t be surprised by anything she does. She has an incredibly strong home life and a great sense of self-esteem. There are a lot of good actresses her age, but she has this core of dignity, health, grace and innate intelligence that’s a pretty formidable package when you put it all together”
– Susan Sarandon, Anywhere But Here Co-star – Los Angeles Daily News (USA) – Novemeber, 1999
“When you see Natalie you think of Audrey Hepburn—that kind of simplicity, and variety, and intelligence that’s genuinely there. Natalie doesn’t have to do a whole lot to register something with an audience”
– Stockard Channing, Where The Heart Is co-star – Entertainment Weekly (USA) – April, 2000
“She’s so incredibly bright. And she’s beautiful, but she has the ability to take that energy and pull it inside. You can walk down the street with her and nobody will notice her, but then all of the sudden she does something, and you go, ‘Oh my God, what a beautiful woman.'”
– Matt Williams, Where The Heart Is Director – Daily Bruin (USA) – April, 2000
“She’s tremendously poised and incredibly talented, she can do whatever she wants to, and I don’t mean just acting.”
– Stockard Channing, Where The Heart Is co-star – Toronto Sun (Canada) – April, 2000
“Natalie is the only person I know who is sophisticated and innocent simultaneously”
– Ashley Judd, Where The Heart Is co-star – Oprah (USA) – April, 2000
“Close your eyes, and you’d think you were talking to a 29-year-old, not a teenager”
– Alice Jones, Australian Sunday Telegraph – The Sunday Telegraph (Australia) – August, 2000
“Portman is the archetypal overachiever”
– David Eimer, Culture Magazine – Culture (USA) – November, 2000
“She gives off a rosebud freshness that can’t be faked. Her very skin seems to glow with the promise of miraculous transformations”
– Ben Brantley, New York Times theatre critic – Sunday Times Magazine (UK) – April, 2002
“she’s such a compassionate, empathetic kind of person, and I think an audience feels that from her”
– James Lapine, Anne Frank Director – Vogue (USA) – May, 2002
“I always felt relaxed with her. She’s articulate, very centered and smart. And she has a wicked sense of humor. I never thought of her as a kid. I thought of her as a partner”
– Susan Sarandon, Any Where But Here Co-star – USA Weekend (USA) – May, 2002
“The thing that strikes you most about her is her intelligence. I know she stuggles with this idea that she’s also become this glamour icon whoin real life is a serious college student. She’s smart enough to know there are a lot of options other than being an actor”
– George Lucas, Star Wars Director – USA Weekend (USA) – May, 2002