13aget
Deft

and narrow. She proudly boasts that
she does not drink, smoke or frequent
"Thuile club scene like so many of her
contemporaries. For the past 10 years,
she has been a vegetarian, becoming
stricter over the years, eliminating fish
and cheese from her diet. Her mother
still prepares her brown-bag lunch
each day before she drops her daugh-
ter off at school, since the actress does
not have her own driver's license.
To help further maintain her
anonymity, Portman took on her
grandmother's maiden name as a pro-
fessional moniker. Her real last name
— even the town in which her family
lives — is shrouded in the utmost of
secrecy. "I feel really lucky because my
parents have helped me," she has said.
"I go to public school. My friends are
regular kids. Our house is really regu-
lar. We have a dog. We live with trees.
That's important.
She is one of
the few budding
celebrities that
have never been
forced to endure
any nagging criti-
cisms or grapevine
controversies.
Anyone who has
ever worked with
the young star has
nothing but com-
pliments for
Portman both as
an actress and as a
person. "I'd never
seen Natalie in
anything prior to the first time she
came in to interview," said Woody
Allen, who cast Portman in 1996's
Everyone Says I Love You, "but she
immediately impressed me as an
unusually natural and intelligent
actress — she has a great future."
Director Michael Mann, who had
worked with Portman a year earlier in
Heat, was similarly struck by her
maturity. "When I met her, you could
tell she was kind of a prodigy," he told
Entertainment Weekly.
Director Ted Demme has remained
a devoted fan since working with a 14-
year-old Portman on the film Beautiful
Girls. In 10 years she's going to run
the entire world," he remarked to
People magazine at the time, "and I
want to be one of her assistants."
Even if Portman decides that acting
isn't her calling after all, she is commit-
ted to George Lucas through the sum-
mer of 2002 when she will complete
the last of the series' three prequels. By
then, at 21, she will no doubt have
earned even more recognition in her

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‘

Tea With

Mussolini'

"

Top: In the prequel, Portman plays the
future mother of Luke and Leia.

Franco Zeffirelli's Tea With
Mussolini, opening today, is
based on the filmmaker's autobi-
ography. The film tells the story
of the young Luca Innocenti,
who, alone in the world, is
raised by a group of female
British ex-patriates in Florence
as Mussolini leads Italy into
World War II.
The stellar cast includes Joan
Plowright, Maggie Smith and
Judi Dench as the eccentric and
strong-willed Brits, who with a
free-spirited American art collec-
tor (Cher) and archeologist (Lily
Tomlin), raise Luca.
Despite their jealousies and
differences, all are finally
bonded together by the
tragic circumstances of war.
"I felt I had to tell this
story," Zeffirelli has said.
"Not just about the part I
played in it, but about
these extraordinary women
who tried to resist the mad-
ness of the war that was
sweeping across Europe."
If you liked Life Is
Beautiful, you'll also enjoy
Tea With Mussolini, another
story that tests both loyalty
and love.

— Gail Zimmerman

Above: This fill, Portman stars with
Susan Sarandon in 'Anywhere but Here."

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field. But chances are, the ever down-
to-earth Portman will emerge from the
showbiz machine unscathed.
"The best part about me is that I
can be doing something and totally
believe that I'm in the place, and after
`cut,' I'm like, 'OK, I'm Natalie,' she
told Venice magazine. "It's kind of like
hypnosis. You're in one place and then
it's over and you're in another and you
),
don't even remember.

Star Wars: Episode I — The
Phantom Menace opens at 12:01
a.m. Wednesday, May 19. See
next week's Jewish News for
a review from our on-staff
Star Wars experts.

$

Lincoln Shopping Center
10-1/2 Mile Road & Greenfield
Oak Park ■ (248) 968-0022

In "Ma With Mussolini,"
Cher plays a Jewish-American
art collector.

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Detroit Jewish News

5/14
1999

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