So now Natalie Portman has an Oscar, and people have been calling Black Swan her breakthrough role. In truth, though, Natalie Portman has had at least three breakthrough roles and, although her she has a reputation for being sweet & level-headed, all three roles are pretty dark, intense and risky.
Her first breakthrough was her fairly sensational debut at age 12 in Luc Besson’s best film, Leon. She plays Mathilda, a young orphan who begs a lonely hitman to take her in and teach her his trade so that she can off the drug dealer that killed her beloved little brother. That and she kind of falls in love with the hitman while she’s at it. Fortunately he’s a really, really nice guy (go figure) who’s just interested in protecting her, so it never goes where you really hope it won’t. There tenderness of their bond is the emotional core of the film, and Portman is a live wire. In all Mathilda’s antics, you can see her hurt and alienation. The legend is that she was actually too young for the part, but that Luc Besson couldn’t bare not to cast her. Check out the clip from her casting video below:
