Reverse Portmaning
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Let's gender-switch this Natalie Portman thing for a minute, and consider this: After watching The Ghostwriter last night, I conclude that Ewan McGregor is not that good an actor. He can be good in the right role, but he's shaky in others---variable at best. Also: John Travolta. And George Clooney. And a handful of others who have star power and the ability to shine in just the right vehicle but aren't subjected to this public Portmaning and are admired for what they do right rather than disdained for their limits.
Take that, blogosphere!
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Let's gender-switch this Natalie Portman thing for a minute, and consider this: After watching The Ghostwriter last night, I conclude that Ewan McGregor is not that good an actor. He can be good in the right role, but he's shaky in others---variable at best. Also: John Travolta. And George Clooney. And a handful of others who have star power and the ability to shine in just the right vehicle but aren't subjected to this public Portmaning and are admired for what they do right rather than disdained for their limits.
Take that, blogosphere!
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posted by Anonymous at
5:01 PM
2 Comments:
While I stand by my assessment that Natalie Portman’s Black Swan performance wasn’t Oscar-worthy, I also think she could eventually land a role where she does give an Oscar-worthy performance. Granted, I’ve only seen The Professional, the Star Wars Trilogy, V for Vendetta, and Black Swan, so maybe I’m missing a mesmerizing performance somewhere. (Garden State? Closer?)
Comparing her to Ewan McGregor is very interesting, because he was also in the Star Wars pre-quels, and it highlights the fact that no one--not even Sam Jackson!--could do anything worthwhile with that script and that direction. It really made all those actors look bad.
Still, all those male actors (McGregor, Clooney, Travolta) have turned in performances that I really love (Big Fish, O Brother Where Art Thou, Get Shorty), and I can’t really say that for adult Natalie Portman. However, all those male actors are also at least ten years older than her, so the comparison isn’t really apt. Travolta wasn’t really taken seriously as an actor until he was 40 (Pulp Fiction) and Clooney didn’t start getting dramatic roles until he was 39 (Three Kings). And Natalie Portman hasn’t done a tremendous amount of acting in her 30 years. She’s got 35 roles in her IMDB entry (that’s what happens when you waste your life going to Harvard, Natalie!), while Joseph Gordon-Levitt (same age) has 60. Bottom line: I’m sure she’ll develop her talent over the next twenty years/30 roles.
Another interesting parallel: these three actors tend to shine in comedic roles, and there's evidence (NP's latest movie with Ashton Kutcher) that she also has a knack for comedy. So maybe it's not that she can't act--maybe it's just that her true calling lies with broader, more comedic roles.
One interesting difference (which the “Natalie-Portman-can’t-act” piece raised) between male and female actors is that those “cipher” roles—a role where the actor is just a canvas/object for the audience’s projected emotions—don’t really exist for men. Remember the “lady in red” that is a creation of one of the programmers in The Matrix? There is no male equivalent of that—no mysterious male figure whose purpose is to ignite female desire with his image alone. So, just by being men, male actors often get juicier roles than their female counterparts. C'est la vie, as my Mum would say.
Very interesting insight into the cipher/canvas role, which makes up a greater percentage of available roles for female actors.
By the way, I'm not a huge NP fan, and I can accept that she's not great---but I really did love her in Black Swan. I actually think her niche might be these less realistic roles, or maybe the comedic roles, as you say.
I'm more annoyed at the way these kinds of debates seem to swirl around women more than men. I remember seeing John Travolta in that John Woo film that takes place on a train and thinking, Oh my god . . . he's a terrible actor!
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