Natalie Portman was inspired to direct her new film because it reminded her of her family’s struggles as immigrants.
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In fact, the Oscar victor admitted at panel discussion for her feature length directorial debut, “A Tale of Love and Darkness,” that Hollywood film legend Lauren Bacall flat out did not like her. Ouch!
Portman’s adaptation is nearly entirely in Hebrew with subtitles and features a cast of Israeli actors.
The 35-year-old thespian shared that making the film was a very personal decision for her, whose grandparents were refugees.
Today Portman joins guest host Gill Deacon to discuss her decade-long interest in the novel, her passion for Isreal’s storytelling tradition, and the double-edged intensity of a mother’s love. In fact, the most compassionate scenes of A Tale of Love and Darkness are those shared by the mother and her son: a complex relationship of multitudes that might in some ways resemble Portman’s connection to her motherland Israel, her birthplace.
“As far as I know I’m done”.
The film adaptation of Amos Oz’s memoirs tells the story of Amos as a boy (Amir Tessler), watching the newly formed state of Israel adapt to political changes, as he, himself, grows from a boy into a man. Knowing that a move was imminent, it became a now or never moment for Portman.
“Yes, it was so similar to so many stories I’d heard growing up”. She has taken on a number of hard roles with the potential to disrupt her upward climb and, in one notable case, “Black Swan”, turned the choice into Oscar gold. You’re just one aspect of what the director is mainly coordinating.
Natalie added, ‘She sensed in me what I learned later about myself … that I had a really hard time saying what I wanted and being the boss’. And the only semi-real discovery she can think of is that, well, she’s a “nerd”.
Famous Israeli novelist Amoz Oz recounted his childhood memories with his mother in “A Tale of Love and Darkness”. I mean, I’ve been working for nearly 25 years and made over 40 films and I worked with my first female director, on a feature, last year [“Planetarium”].
“Especially Terry, he always said to me, ‘Paint from life”. Why studios didn’t want to finance her movie:It was the typical thing of: How is this commercial? She is most assuredly not providing CliffsNotes to Oz’s book, letting us see what Amos sees and only partially understands.
As a director, Portman (who moved to the United States from Israel as a child) grasps how this family would argue and kibitz among themselves while maintaining a public face of rectitude. On easing into the director’s chair:As a director you’re asked what you want a thousand times a day. I was very lucky to get to know him during this process.
Portman, who had optioned the book rights over tea with Oz and his wife, had two decades of experience on films sets to draw on for her approximately $4 million film, and she sought advice from several of her past directors, including Mike Nichols, Darren Aronofsky and Malick.
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“When I was a kid, [filming] was fun, more like play than work”, she recalls. But as an unproven filmmaker (sans her NY, I Love You segment)?
