Natalie Portman says method acting is a “luxury women can’t afford”

Natalie Portman has spoken about method acting in a recent interview, describing it as a “luxury women can’t afford.”

• READ MORE: ‘Jackie’ – Film Review

Speaking with The Wall Street Journal, Portman explained how she has never employed the approach, which typically involves an actor undergoing a range of techniques to help them deeply identify with their character emotionally, physically and mentally, often by changing their routines and thoughts to be more like their character.

While Portman explained how she does seriously prepare for her roles, including an intensive training programme and a strict diet for her role as a ballerina in Black Swan, she said: “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”, referring to her portrayal of the former US First Lady in the 2016 biopic, Jackie.

She continued: “No matter the circumstances of a woman’s life, whether she’s very privileged or underprivileged, the uniting factor is the limits placed by society on what women can be, how they can behave, what they’re allowed to say and think and feel and do.”

“So every woman’s story is trying to break free of [that],” she added.

While there are many well-known cases of male actors using this approach, including Robert De Niro working for hours as a cab driver before Martin Scorcese’s Taxi Driver, or Leonardo DiCaprio camping in the wilderness and eating raw bison to prepare for The Revenant, there are examples of female stars taking on the method acting technique.

When Lady Gaga played Patrizia Reggiani in House Of Gucci, her preparation for the role meant nine months speaking in an Italian accent, even off camera. She shared with British Vogue that she had “some psychological difficulty at one point towards the end of filming,” when she had to readjust to her normal life.

Portman recently lost out on a Golden Globe for her latest movie, May December, with Emma Stone winning the award for her role in Poor Things.

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