Natalie Portman has in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
The Oscar-winning actress, now 41, shot to fame in the Luc Besson movie, playing a young girl who befriends a hit man in hopes of avenging her parents’ murders.
The French film attracted controversy for its moral ambiguity, with many viewing Portman’s character as a Lolita-esque figure and many feeling uncomfortable with the relationship between her and the middle-aged killer played by Jean Reno.
Portman said, “It’s a movie that’s still loved, and people speak to me about it more than almost anything I’ve ever made, and it gave me my career.”
“But it sure is, if you look at it now, it certainly has some cringy, to say the least, aspects to it. So yes, it’s complicated for me.
Candid: Natalie Portman has reflected on her “cringey and complicated” experience making the controversial 1994 film, Leon: The Professional as a 12-year-old child star in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter
Controversial: The Oscar-winning actress, now 41, rose to fame in the Luc Besson film, in which she played a young girl who befriends a hit man in hopes of avenging her parents’ murders
When asked what she thought of sexual abuse allegations against Besson in 2018 — he denied all allegations, and charges against him were later dropped by a Paris appeals court — Portman said: “It’s devastating.”
When asked ‘Luc was a pivotal figure in your career and the careers of other young women. Do you think there was any indication that—’ Portman replied, ‘I really didn’t know. I was a child who worked. I was a child. But I don’t want to say anything that would invalidate anyone’s experience.
The film sparked further controversy when Luc Besson admitted that in the first draft script, the girl and the hitman actually became lovers, but he changed his mind.
In 2018, Portman said that at the age of 13, after starring in her first film, she experienced “sexual terrorism” from fans and the media that influenced the way she proceeded for the rest of her career.
When the film was released a year later, she said she was excited to open her first fan letter. But in the letter, a man had written to her about a “rape fantasy” he had about her.
“At age 13, the message of our culture was clear to me,” said Portman. “I felt the need to cover my body and inhibit my expression and my work in order to send my own message to the world that I am someone who deserves safety and respect.
“The response to my expression, from small comments about my body to more considered statements, served to control my behavior in an environment of sexual terrorism.”
Chat: The French film sparked controversy for its moral ambiguity, with many considering Portman’s character a Lolita-esque figure
Style: Portman made an impact in a structured mini dress as she posed for the publication
Beaming The star wore a woven ab cut-out dress for the shoot
Role: “But it sure, if you look at it now, it certainly has some creepy, to say the least, aspects. So yes, it’s complicated for me;
In 2020, she said, “Being sexualized as a child, I think, took away my own sexuality because it scared me.
Portman then argues for a world where women can express their sexuality and “desire” without feeling physically unsafe.
I know I was sexualized in the way I was photographed or portrayed, and it wasn’t my fault,” she added. “It becomes part of your public identity.”
In 2020, she said, “Being sexualized as a child, I think, took away my own sexuality because it scared me.
“It made me feel like the way I can be safe is to say, ‘I’m conservative and I mean it, and you have to respect me, and I’m smart and don’t look at me like that.’ ‘