Natalie Portman had quite a year last year, what with winning the Academy Award for Best Actress with her brilliant portrayal of the mentally fragile Nina Sayers in "Black Swan," and giving birth to her first child and all. Portman has managed to keep a low profile since the arrival of her son, but she's stepping back into the spotlight this summer to begin work on her first new project since her hiatus.
As first reported by Deadline, Natalie Portman has signed on to star in two new films, both of them directed by Terrence Malick, and both are being shot back to back this year. "Knight of the Cups" will film this summer and "Lawless" will begin shooting directly after in the fall.
Portman's decision to work with Malick on not one, but two films, comes at an intriguing time due to all of the recent news headlines with Sean Penn and current Oscar nominee Christopher Plummer publicly venting their frustration and disappointment with the director.
Terrence Malick is legendary in his ability to do two things- he is extremely gifted in creating visually stunning films akin to magnificent paintings; he also does a pretty good job of completely polarizing critics, audiences, and incidentally- his own actors- with his unique approach to the film medium. People either passionately love his work or vehemently abhor it, with both sides equally enthusiastic to defend their position.
Malick debuted his first feature film "Badlands" back in 1973, and he's only made four other films since then: "Days of Heaven" (1978), "The Thin Red Line" (1998), "The New World" (2005), and "The Tree of Life" (2011). He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Director for "The Thin Red Line."
"The Tree of Life" is currently Oscar nominated in the Best Film category, and Malick is up for Best Director again. Not suprisingly, dismay vs. delight at the film's nomination is about fifty-fifty among audiences and critics who have seen it. Click here to watch the trailer.
In addition to the quality of his films being under constant heated debate, Malick is notoriously recluse and refuses to participate in any press-related events or promotion for his films. He also insists on being the sole writer on all of his movies, and is known for then cutting out a lot of what he has written (much to his actors' chagrin) in the editing process.
But, despite all the negativity, A-listers- like Portman- continue to line up to work with Malick, proving there is just as much love for him within the acting community as there is dislike. Besides Portman, "Knight of the Cups" already has Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett and Isabel Lucas attached to it. Portman, Bale, and Blanchett will go on to appear in "Lawless" as well, alongside Ryan Gosling and Rooney Mara.
SLIDESHOW: See pictures of Natalie Portman through the years
And despite his many naysayers, it is likely there will always be actors like Portman who consider the aesthetic genius of Terrence Malick worth the gamble. And audiences as well, for that matter. Or, let's hope so, for Natalie Portman's sake.
If you want to watch Natalie hand out the Best Actress statue, and you're interested to see how "The Tree of Life" fairs at The 84th Annual Academy Awards, tune into ABC on February 26th at 7e|4
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