The film that almost ruined Natalie Portman's acting career.

Natalie Portman nearly didn’t make it.

The Hollywood actress was very close to never living out her dream of being on the big screen or walking on the red carpet. In fact she wouldn’t have made it if it weren’t for her dear friend, Mike Nichols.

We love seeing her on the red carpet.

After the fimmaker passed away in November this year, the New York Times wrote a piece in his living memory – getting his friends and colleagues to share their stories. It was in these stories that Portman confessed if it weren’t for Nichols, her role in Star Wars would’ve ruined her career.

“Star Wars had come out around the time of Seagull, and everyone thought I was a horrible actress. I was in the biggest-grossing movie of the decade, and no director wanted to work with me,” she told the New York Times.

After Portman played Queen Amidala in Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace she received awful reviews – slandering her as a terrible actress. Ultimately this led to no one wanting to hire her.

Natalie Portman in Star Wars..

Portman opens up about how Nichols saved her career.

“Mike wrote a letter to Anthony Minghella and said, “Put her in Cold Mountain, I vouch for her,” she told the New York Times.

“And then Anthony passed me on to Tom Tykwer, who passed me on to the Wachowskis. I worked with Milos Forman a few years later. He said, “Mike saved me. He wrote a letter so that I could get asylum in the U.S.” He did that for 50 people, and it doesn’t make any one of us feel less special.”

So thank you Mike Nichols. If it weren’t for you we never would’ve seen Portman’s talent in Cold Mountain, the Star Wars prequel – Attack of the Clones, V for Vendetta, 2004’s Closer and her star appearance in The Black Swan.

Sure, Star Wars may have been the biggest-grossing movie of the decade, but it nearly ruined Natalie Portman’s entire career.

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