Natalie Portman has always raised her voice about the unpleasant experiences she has been facing ever since she began her career in Hollywood, during the days when she was a teenager.
While talking about the trouble of working with male mentors, Portman stated she has only worked together with one who was not ‘creepy.’
She said: “I think he was a genuine feminist,” Portman stated about Mike Nichols. “There was nothing, nothing, nothing there except him seeing you as a creative, interesting, talented human. It is the rarest, finest quality, and not many directors of his generation had it. Nichols was the only older man who mentored me without there ever being a creepy element in it.”
She first came across Nichols in her teens when she was not more than 19 and worked with him in a Central Park production of The Seagull with Meryl Streep and Phillip Seymour Hoffman.one more time they collaborated for 2004’s Closer.
While talking about a scene where the actress had to strip in a club, she said the he made sure that I was entirely comfortable.
“[Nichols] made sure [Portman] was comfortable with the angles, the costumes, and the movement, and walked her through the scene until she felt ready. ‘What he did for me … ‘ she said. ‘Lord, may I have that ability to offer that kind of mentorship and guidance to one other person.'”
