One of the biggest achievements that any star in the acting game can have to their name, is winning an Oscar at the Academy Awards and that is exactly what Natalie Portman did in 2011, when she won the Best Leading Actress Oscar in the movie Black Swan. However, it seems that things almost did not work out for Natalie in the acting industry a few years back.
Natalie Portman won an Oscar for Black Swan
In 1999, Natalie Portman appeared on the big screen in the movie Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, playing the role of Padme Amidala, going on to reprise the role for the next two movies. While the Star Wars prequels managed to gross a huge amount of money, they received a lot of criticism, with Natalie being targeted as a bad actress.
Following the Star Wars prequels, Natalie Portman was not only seen by fans as being a bad actress but it also seems that people in the movie industry also doubted her talents. Fortunately though, Mike Nichols saw her talent and vouched for her, before then casting Natalie in Closer, which led to her landing an Oscar nomination, which put her back on the map as a serious acting talent.
Natalie Portman was slated for Star Wars
Portman revealed, "Star Wars had come out … and everyone thought I was a horrible actress. I was in the biggest-grossing movie of the decade, and no director wanted to work with me. Mike wrote a letter to Anthony Minghella and said, ‘Put her in Cold Mountain, I vouch for her.’ And then Anthony passed me on to Tom Tykwer, who passed me on to the Wachowskis."
Natalie Portman now has a whole host of movie projects lined up for the coming years and her future in Hollywood looks set to be as strong as ever.
The Star Wars prequels were slated
