- You really owe me a debt of thanks,
because in researching our chat for today,
and we've talked many times over the years,
I went through the MTV archives,
and I'm sparing you some.
- Thank you.
- You were always very poised,
(laughs)
- And never said anything crazy.
Honestly, but it's more of like,
there's an amazing TRL apperence,
where like someone's head is getting shaved
next to you.
It's just--
- It's very, I'm from the 90s.
- I mean it's great.
- And so is MTV.
- It's true you grew up with us.
We grew up with you.
- [Neon] How many of you have cried
yourself to sleep at night?
People have been trying to take me down for years.
But I won't stay down.
(screaming)
- [Guy] Celest, come on.
Everybody's down stairs.
(thump on the floor)
- [Girl] Owe.
- [Josh] You know what you're getting
into right from the start.
There's the one with the narration.
There's the fact that this film has this great,
what's the subtitle?
21st century portrait.
- [Natalie] Yes.
- I mean it really is though.
Because it really is about the confluence
in pop culture where we combined violence,
and pop music, and you go from talking about
controversies in the administration and then
it's like, who's the sexiest man alive.
- [Natalie] Right.
- And it's just all the same.
- It's like this attention all over the place.
Where you just have, because news is sold.
It becomes how can we create more and more stories?
And have more stories all the time.
And people consume at such a fast rate.
And then to feed it, everything becomes news.
And whether it's an act of violence
or a pop stars break up.
It occupies the same space and then the attention
you give, it gives it great powers.
It's definitely the craziness of our time
where it feels like everything is put on the same
level but it also weirdly makes everything less important.
Because there's so much that it all get diluted.
- You of course play Celest.
Who's this pop star who's kinda born out of this tragedy.
Born out of violence and she's gone through it clearly.
That's how me meet her in the second half of the film.
I know you said that you don't want to name names
about who's inspiring this and I'm sure
it's a lot of people right?
But I think that one of the amazing things
is that there's a press conference where
the subject comes out of your character's mouth,
some of it's profound, some of it's insane.
- Yes.
- And I think, I'll say it.
Oh you could just be reading Kanye's tweets to.
- Yeah!
It's funny because Brady, the director, said to
someone, they asked who it was most like,
although it wasn't inspired by him, he was like
if you could compare this character
to anyone today it would be Kanye
- Did you just kinda go down a google hole
in terms of looking up pop stars,
meltdowns, and all that kind of stuff?
- Yes, there's a lot to draw from.
And that's something that's interesting because you see
kind of part one where she's kind of born
as a pop star where the character is played
by a young grafters Raffie Cassidy who's incredible.
And then part two where I'm playing her at an older age,
and you can fill in the blanks.
Because we've seen so many people have this mediocre
rise and then a crash and then a rebirth.
We know what that trajectory is,
you don't need to see what happens in between.
You can fill it in.
- Yeah, it strikes me when you say that.
Was that weird for you at the point of your
career where there's a young actor playing a young
version of you.
You've always been the young version of something else.
- It's funny being around so long
that you go from being the young actor
to the older actor in the pairing.
It's also really exciting to not feel like
the least experienced.
Because I was always like oh my God, how did I get here?
How did I get so luck?
- Was there a point where that changed?
Was there like a specific film you remember
where you were like I know what I'm doing now?
- I never feel like I know what I'm doing.
But I do feel like I'm older than other people.
Like everybody.
It's just an age thing not a comfort thing.
The comfort never gets better.
- You shot this role in 10 days,
which is crazy.
- Yeah.
- I would think you were probably riding
a line between exhilaration and terror.
In a role like this.
Because the stuff you have to do,
in such a short period of time,
was it kind of a thrill ride?
Or a rollercoaster for you?
Was it good that it happened in
such a compressed period of time?
- Yeah, it was really fun.
There's a certain kind of energy that
you get from doing things so quickly
and a condensed energetic way.
But it's also really scary.
You have to be super prepared because you
just have to show up and do your thing.
And there's no wiggle room.
There's no I'll get comfortable.
I'll take a few days.
Which usually in a movie you kind of ease in.
And then by day 10 you feeling ready to try the hard things.
And this was first day doing the
hardest scenes in the movie.
So it was cool.
And I was lucky to work with Jude Law again
because I got to set and knew that the actor
that I was working opposite is the loveliest,
kindest, most generous, also an incredible actor.
But also just that you can feel
comfortable trying crazy things.
- This is what, your 4th or 5th time working.
- It's our 4th time working together.
- That's crazy.
And in such different kinds of movies.
The box set of Jude Law and Natalie Portman
is an unusual one.
- This is definitely the outlier.
(classical music)
♪please, I will follow, cause your my last hope ♪
♪ I'll do anything♪
- The last what?
15 or 20 minuets of this movie
is basically a performance.
Like it's a mini concert by your character.
And the film lives or dies on that.
You can't just get to that and be like,
eh, she was alright.
You have to buy it.
So you have to sell that.
You have Sia contributing the songs
which is unbelievable.
- So cool.
- What did it feel like to be on stage?
You've obviously performed in many
different respects whether it was in theater,
whether it's in black swan doing that kind of thing.
Did this feel like a different kind of performance for you?
- It was a different kind of performance.
It was really exciting to get to do.
And to get to sing songs written by Sia
was really something I never thought
I'd get to do in my life.
It was also very intense because it is
a big thing to kind of like make people believe.
- Can you pin point a moment where your,
the night before, a specific moment on set
where you were freaking out?
- Almost every time.
- Every night before every scene!
- Not every night before every scene because
usually your just too busy get everything together.
- But there's usually one in every film
that you're,
- I think mainly it's like the week before I start.
I feel, or even the month before I start,
I just feel terrified and want to drop out.
On everything.
I just get that panic.
Like I don't think I can't actually do this.
And then you kinda have to,
sort of like that moment on the high dive
when you're a kid and you're looking
down and you're like I'm just gonna
turn back and go down the ladder.
And then you're just like take the leap.
(SNL digital short: Natalie raps by Saturday Night Live)
♪ I don't sleep mother (beep) off that yak and that girl. ♪
♪ Doin' 120 gang and who I'm swervin'. ♪
♪ Damn Natalie you a crazy chick. ♪
♪ Yo shut the (beep) up and suck my (beep) ♪
- Take me back to that for a second.
Because I know that was a big moment in your career.
In a lot of different respects.
It was like the birth of viral videos.
- Right, it was sort of at the
beginning of the Lonely Island.
- Did you have any apprehension?
Cause there's, I was re watching it the other day.
I hadn't watched it in a while.
The lines in that, there's some extreme stuff in that.
Was there anything that you glanced at
that you were like maybe we can't go that far.
- No, in the second one, they wrote some lines
about my kids and I was like no.
We don't touch that.
Anything embarrassing with me I'm fine.
But I'm not touching that.
But no, it was really fun to for me
and lucky for me,
to get to play with this image.
Because I feel like, you know when we're talking
about how in the film, there's a way that the character
wants other people to perceive her,
and there's also a way that
the press wants to portray her.
And I think that every public
figure has that to an extent.
And some combination of me and the way
the press decided to characterize me
from an early age was that I was this very
serious judius girl so it was fun to
break that perception even just a little bit.
And you even, as a joke,
- Do you think that has reverberations?
You think you are still in a little but of the
box of what people perceive you to be?
Or 10 plus years after that video does that still remain?
- Yeah, I think that there's definitely that remains
a little bit but also I think it
matters less the older you get.
You're kinda like oh, I don't care.
- Right, right.
- Think whatever you want about me.
And it's cool.
You have free will.
- You have been gifted with great parents
who were obviously protective of you and helping
steer your career early on where it's touch
for any actor let alone a young actor in this business.
Let alone a young female actor in this business.
But I am curious, were there any arguments?
Was there any film you desperately wanted to do
that they would not let you do?
- The professional was a huge
huge argument with my parents.
- Really?
- Because it was obviously very mature themed.
And it was my first film offer so I was
desperate to do it.
So they were very fair, so that they sort of
negotiated about what I could and couldn't do.
I was limited how many times I could put
a cigarette to my mouth, but I could never actually inhale.
And at the end, my character had to quit smoking
so that it would be a good influence for young people.
There were things like that, that were,
limiting how many times I could curse.
Things like that.
- You finally came to social media.
For a good cause it seems like.
- Yeah.
It was connected to Times Up.
- Times up, yeah.
- Did you have to be dragged kicking and screaming?
Or did it feel like if you were going to do it
this was the time to do it?
- I had to be convinced.
- Yeah.
- But yeah, I'm very happy to have been part
of that moment, it was introducing Times Up to the world.
And to continue being part of it.
And it's been a new experience.
- Did it feel like, cause you've always
been politically active and spoken your mind.
Was there a time where, did it take you a while to
find your voice you feel like?
As a young person to feel like you
were entitled to speak your mind?
- Yeah, I think there's a finny thing that
not funny, but very appointed thing that Monica Ramirez
who's the head of Farm Workers union who reached out to
the actresses originally, that sort of
spurred the creation of Times Up.
And she said to us, we're silenced by
the spotlight as we are by the shadows.
They tell us like your in the shadows,
no one cares about you, shut up.
And they tell you, you're rich and famous,
no one cares about your complaints, shut up.
And what they're telling all of us is to be silent
and the silence endangers all of us.
Because then we're not sharing, we're not unifying,
we're not a force together.
And that was really meaningful and made
me feel like it was okay.
If someone didn't want to listen
then they didn't have to listen.
Everyone's free to choose what their,
what they're listening to and
what information they're seeking out.
- I was at the premier of Star Wars because I'm just
a big Star Wars dork and they're important films
in your career obviously.
When you look back to those three movies,
is there a scene that you're most proud of?
Because I know it's a challenging film for an actor.
I mean the actors with decades of experience
had some tough times in those movies.
- Yeah, it was really definitely a challenge to
work with blue screen for the firs time.
It was kind of the first time that anyone
filmed digitally and with so much blue screen
it was my first time for sure.
And I know it was definitely one of the first
nearly all blue screen movies.
- To that extent totally.
- So it was like learning a very pure form
of acting where you're literarily looking at nothing.
- Black box theater.
Is there one there where the acting kind of
cut through where you can actually look at it
and say we got to something that felt?
- Yeah I mean I feel like that's sort of in the third film.
Some of the little like the big conflict scene with
Anakin, that was, that felt like a scene between
actors more than having to deal with stuff
that you couldn't see that's gonna be put in later.
- Along those lines, and again I'm gonna,
I've seen these films 1000 times,
but I was watching Revenge of the Sith the other day
and the scene between you and Uan,
where Uan goes off, it was a really
powerful emotional moment.
I thought it was really well done.
- Thanks.
- Belated congratulations.
- Thank you very much.
- On a more serious note I will say,
I know you were buddies with Amet Best,
back in the day.
- Yes, still buddies.
And actually his wife Raquelle
helped train me for Vox Lux.
- He's been very candid in the last year about
talking about it was tough to deal with the reaction
to that character and the
extreme stuff for a young actor.
Have you talked to him about that?
Were you surprised?
I mean you were friends with him,
you probably knew he was going through that I guess?
- Yeah, I knew to a certain extent.
I didn't know how extreme it was until he spoke
publicly about it.
And, really devastating to hear.
He's one of the greatest people
and extraordinarily talented.
And I can't even imagine what that experience
was like and people don't realize the extent
of the hurt they can cause.
We talk bout it all the time now.
And like to bullying and Social Media world,
but it's existed for a long time.
The negativity that people can dish out.
And yeah, especially when you
don't have to face the other side.
Thank you for this civilized setting.
- You know me.
I'm all about civilization and tea and vegan deserts.
Congratulations on the film,
Vox Lux is, it's a trip man.
People should check it out.
- I'm glad you liked it.