Natalie Portman was pretty proud of her work in Garden State, until her heroes on Broad City made a joke about how lame it is.
As she explained in a panel at the Toronto International Film Festival about the movie she loved making, “I’ve been insecure about it recently because of Broad City. There’s a really dorky character who’s a gym instructor, like an Equinox guy or something, and he’s the worst.”
Credit: Camelot Pictures
“And he’s like, ‘Oh my God, I love Garden State! I donated all my money to Zach Braff‘s Kickstarter.’ And I’m like…'” Portman said putting her head in her hands, “‘Oh my God.’ So now, because the people I think are the coolest think it’s really lame I’m kind of insecure about it.”
Portman also apologized for being part of the manic pixie dream girl trope.
“When I read it I was like, ‘Oh, this is a character that’s wacky and interesting, and no one’s ever given me a chance to play something like this. It’s this sort of unusual girl.’ So that was my incentive to make it.”
She continued, “I see that trope and I think it’s a good thing to recognize the way those female characters are used. I mean, I appreciate that people are writing characters that are interesting and unusual, rather than some bland female character as the girlfriend in a movie, but when the point of the character in this movie is to, like, help the guy have his arc, that’s sort of the problem, and that’s why it’s good that they’re talking about it, because it certainly is a troubling trope.”
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