Natalie Portman addresses the 'cringey' elements of her star-making role in Luc Besson's The Professional
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Natalie Portman has conflicted feelings about the film — and filmmaker — responsible for jump-starting her career as a child star.
The Oscar-winning Black Swan actress addressed her role in controversial director Luc Besson's 1994 thriller Léon: The Professional, in which she co-starred as a 12-year-old who becomes the protégée of a hitman, Léon (Jean Reno), after her family is murdered.
"It's a movie that's still beloved, and people come up to me about it more than almost anything I've ever made, and it gave me my career, but it is definitely, when you watch it now, it definitely has some cringey, to say the least, aspects to it," Portman told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Wednesday. "So, yes, it's complicated for me."
Columbia Pictures Natalie Portman in Luc Besson's 'The Professional'
Portman's pre-teen is enamored with the older Léon in the film, repeatedly professing her love for him. In one scene, a scantily-clad Portman sings Madonna's "Like a Virgin" to Léon before dressing up as Marilyn Monroe and delivering a sultry rendition of the actress' famous "Happy Birthday (Mr. President)." In interviews, the former child actress Maïwenn implied that the film was inspired by her relationship with Besson, which began when she was 15, the legal age of consent in France. She and Besson reportedly met when she was 12, the age of Portman's character in The Professional.
The outlet also asked her about allegations of rape and sexual misconduct against Besson, who was accused of assaulting a woman in France in 2018, which he "categorically" denied through a representative at the time. The case was later dismissed in 2021.
Portman called the allegations "devastating" and stressed that she was "of course" surprised by them, maintaining that she had no knowledge of such activity while working with Besson, who'd go on to direct the hit sci-fi film The Fifth Element three years after The Professional.
"I really didn't know. I was a kid working. I was a kid," Portman told the publication. "But I don't want to say anything that would invalidate anyone's experience."
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