| Actress Natalie Portman Steps Into This Magic Emporium |
| Written by Brad Balfour | ||||
Page 1 of 2  "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" stars Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman  Natalie Portman plays as Molly Mahoney, the young and insecure manager in "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium"  Natalie Portman at the world premiere of "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" At 11 years-old, Portman was discovered by an agent in a pizza parlor. She started in modeling but decided to pursue acting. She was featured in many live performances, but made her powerful film debut in "The Professional." But it wasn't until 1999 that she gained worldwide fame as Queen Amidala in the hughly successful $431 million-grossing Star Wars prequel, "The Phantom Menace." Afterwards, she starred in the critically acclaimed "Anywhere But Here, "Where the Heart Is," and "Closer," for which she received an Oscar nom. Now, in this kid-oriented fantasy, she plays Molly Mahoney, the Composer, store manager, and the 243 year-old Mr. Magorium's protege. Though she takes his magic for granted, she figures he will be there forever; then he tells her his time on Earth has come to an end and she must take over the store. Devastated, she and the store grow dark with despair but finally they rise to the occasion for themselves and the kids who love the place. Q: Unlike two recent films you starred in—"V for Vendetta" and "Goya’s Ghosts"—you weren't going to be tortured in "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium"—how appealing was the notion? Natalie Portman: Interesting question. It really wasn’t that. I’m just trying to do stuff that’s different all the time. Yeah, I had the unfortunate position of having that in "Goya" and then in "V" also, but I’ve also had a few… I guess I have only had "Hotel Chevalier" since "Goya." I just want to do stuff that’s different and challenging in different ways, and this script was like a no-brainer when I read it. I was like, "I have to do this." I immediately called Zach and was like, "I’m in. Whatever. You tell me when." Q: Did the film take you back to when you were younger? NP: It did take me back to my childhood in a way. What was interesting was because I started working as a kid—I started working when I was 11—but I was never in a kids' movie. And all of a sudden I'm in a kids' movie, but I don't get kid treatment because I'm the grown up. That was sort of a bizarre experience, to be like, 'Ooh, I'm finally doing a kids' movie,' and then be like, "Wait, but I have to work as many hours as they want. There's no limit. I don't get a few hours off for tutoring. I don't get a longer lunch." All the perks of being a kid I was sort of left out of. My favorite toys as a kid… Q: Did you have to change your demeanor because you weren’t on the set of an R-rated movie? NP: Yeah, I’ve got a toilet mouth over here [laughs]. It was definitely appealing to me that I could make a movie that I could take my friends’ kids to and that kids could enjoy, but that also I thought was something that I really related to. It’s a character whose struggle was something I really understood and I think is really relevant to people my age and I also thought this really has so much in it that will interest parents, too. When they go with their kids it won’t be like they’re being dragged to a kid movie. There’s a lot of adult stuff, too. [Did I act] differently on set? I don’t know. I’m not particularly curse-happy in general, but I guess…. Q: Was it a different vibe? NP: Yeah, definitely. The thing that is cool about kids, which, I think, is part of what the movie is about, is how a kid will see everything as new and special and exciting and magic and when you see movie set through a kid’s eyes, you sort of learn all—not necessarily that they think it’s amazing all the time —but that they notice the things that you start taking for granted as being strange. They’re like, "Wait, this is a toy store why can’t I play with the toys? Why can’t I move the toys from one place to another?" One kid, the kid who was coloring next to me, Liam, he was like, "I don’t want to color with green anymore; I want to color with red," and we were like, "But the continuity, you’ve got to keep coloring with the same color." It was so weird. And he kept being like, "Why does that lady keep asking the same question?" So when you get that kind of energy it’s great, it sort of makes you look at everything a little bit more uniquely. Q: What was it like working with such a great actor as Dustin Hoffman ["The Graduate," "Midnight Cowboy," Tootsie" among the countless others]? NP: Dustin is such an original and unique person that it was just a completely different relationship than I’ve ever had with anybody else. He’s just so wonderful and has such a combination of being a mentor and a colleague and a parent and a friend and a kid, all of those things. There are many different levels to it, both in the movie and in the professional working relationship. |