friday, dec 31, 2004 (5 AM UTC)
m5lover found a blurb from femalefirst.co.uk..
Natalie Portman had to work extra hard at college Natalie Portman claims she had to work extra hard at college to prove to her peers she deserved a place on the course. The 23-year-old actress, who attended America’s prestigious Harvard University, admits she was worried her classmates would think she only got in because she was famous. She explained to Britain’s Telegraph Magazine: We all live in a culture of celebrity, but my college peers were unimpressed. If anything, I felt I had to prove myself. If I said something stupid in class, they’d look at each other like, ‘I know why she got in.’ But that’s a good challenge.
according to BOM, 'closer' latest theater count: "Closer Sony 1,094 +25" theaters..
JC..
thursday, dec 30, 2004 (9:39 AM UTC)
ekyillia posted a so called new/old nat pic..
JC..
wednesday, dec 29, 2004 (9:48 AM UTC)
sommerfly posted a lovely pic of nat by brigitte lacombe..
aicn has finally reviewed 'closer'..
JC..
tuesday, dec 28, 2004 (2:58 PM UTC)
dazza by way of atsuko, posted a link to a quicktime/windows media clip of nat in a new lux japan ad..
as at date and time of this update, possibly the world's most popular web portal, www.yahoo.com, has this in the buzz section on the front page (scroll down to find it):
"Buzz Log - What the world is searching for
When searches rain down with questions, we aim to collect all the answers.
Popular Search Terms
1. Reggie White
2. Natalie Portman
3. USGS
4. Red Cross"
hmmmmm, nat ranks higher than the red cross in the buzz log..at a time like this??
JC..
tuesday, dec 28, 2004 (9:33 AM UTC)
sonoyta found and posted the ew article: "EW's Great Performances of 2004: Natalie Portman"..
excerpt: "What a relief it is to see Natalie Portman out of her Star Wars face paint. In Zach Braff's directorial debut, Garden State, the 23-year-old actress returns to her roots. Like the sweet, unadorned faces who beamed through Beautiful Girls and The Professional, her character, Sam, is the film's source of rosy-cheeked innocence. (No slouch off camera, she took a three-week break from her senior-year spring semester at Harvard for the shoot.) Playing a helmet-wearing epileptic in a pink hoodie and braids, Sam is quirky and lovable, prone to breaking out in tap dance or breaking down in pretty tears. In a less skilled actor's hands, the character would be little more than a cute caricature of idealized first love. But Portman gives the dorky, eager young woman an actual heart to hand over to the movie's damaged hero. ''When I'm bored, I do a really horrible job,'' she told EW earlier this year. ''I realize that I have to choose stuff where I'm really fascinated by the material in order to do my best work.'' The actress can ring in the New Year proud of a job well done. She's a Hollywood star who looks best without makeup.."
vampirejing found that 'closer' made time mag's "best of the year" list..
finally, the garden state dvd **out today** is featured on the front page of imdb..
JC..
monday, dec 27, 2004 (9:39 AM UTC)
just a quickie..for the good folks in the united kingdom, click here to win official film merchandise from closer..
excerpt: "Five lucky winners will receive an exclusive Closer tee shirt & baseball cap - this is limited edition official film merchandise which can't be bought in the shops!"..
just a reminder..garden state dvd hits stores on dec 28th..
JC..
sunday, dec 26, 2004 (4:30 PM UTC)
just got northernboy's permission to use his nataliechristmas.jpg above..enjoy and happy holidays everyone!!
natalieportman.com's dazza posted his fave critic's blurb for having closer in his 'end of year' list..
further to the update below, sonoyta posted larger pics from rexfeatures..
in the same thread, angry liberal 'sez': "There is plenty of Natalie in this week's Entertainment Weekly. There is a two-page ad for the Garden State DVD I haven't seen before. In the Great Performance section, Natalie is cited for her work in Garden State. There is a new picture of her on page 77. Lastly, Natalie is listed as one of the stars who will appear at the Critics Choice Awards being televised on WB January 10.."
JC..
friday, dec 24, 2004 (3:52 PM UTC)
further to the update at 8:55 AM UTC..please scroll down..
lurking found a hello mag uk writeup..
rexfeatures.com/cgi-bin/r2show0?k=Natalie+Portman&f=Newest has more variations of the pic used in that hello mag uk writeup..
kris has uploaded 'garden state' bloopers at natalieportman.com..thanks kris!!
speaking of natalieportman.com, dazza by way of 24nolf 'sez' vote for nat as best actress and hottest babe..
JC..
friday, dec 24, 2004 (08:55 AM UTC)
feeling lucky this christmas eve?? us residents can enter to "Win the 'Garden State' DVD and Soundtrack"..
moving along, gisele found a banter on 'closer' to..in her words: "balance the opinions somewhat"..
angry liberal found the usa today's oscar index.. apparently, "Natalie is currently tracking third in the Best Supporting Actress Category"..
finally, melody posted a scan of nat in that dress she wore on dave letterman to promote garden state..
JC..
thursday, dec 23, 2004 (02:31 AM UTC)
first up, may i wish everyone a merry christmas!!
lurking posted that nat has won best supporting actress for closer in the san diego film critics' society awards!!
in the same thread, cal 'sez' nat will be invited to the awards luncheon!! congrats to nat!!
speaking of congrats, acacia of nat-portman.net posted that nat has been ranked number 21 in imdb's top 25 stars for 2004..here's the imdb link acacia found..thanks acacia!!
finally, according to bom, closer's latest theater count: 1,069 (a loss of 21 theaters from last weekend)..
hmmmmmmmm, /me pencils in 21 in my powerball scantron..
JC..
wednesday, dec 22, 2004 (02:30 AM UTC)
a VOTE for Closer is a vote for Natalie.
Let's keep the 'Closer' average higher.
Sustained popularity could translate to bigger box office and awards recognition for Natalie.
Register a Free account at BOM and you can grade the films you have seen. While you are there, grade "Garden State" if you haven't yet.
Closer page at BOM (with log in link for grades)
you can also register and rate movies at IMDB on Closer
the amazing sonoyta found more fantastic for your consideration ads for closer with images of nat..
she also posted a link to rare nat candids..
JC..
tuesday, dec 21, 2004 (01:59 AM UTC)
lots of nat 'blurbs' and such today, so let's get to it shall we??
vampirejing posted pics from 'closer' of "better quality"..
amidoll found oscar talk from backstage.com and sez david poland loves nat!!
"One of the questions in the category this year is, how are they going to run people?" says Poland. "Someone like Emmy Rossum may be running as supporting instead of lead in Phantom. I think Natalie Portman would be the front-runner to get nominated and win. She has two great performances this year in two different movies. Garden State is an unlikely nominee, but I think she'll get nominated for Closer and may well win the prize."
sonoyta sez according to oscarwatch.com, natalie is nominated for 'best actress of the year' in the 2004 london critics' circle film awards!!
angry liberal posted the list of the aforementioned awards..
dvdtalk has a review of the 'garden state' dvd..
theglobeandmail asks "Who will be the new 007? Val Kilmer is too blond, Rupert Everett is too gay, Natalie Portman is too pretty."..indeed!!
finally, more proof that nat is deeply entrenched in geekdom..
Fact is, Sony has truly trumped Nintendo DS looks-wise - we sat the two new handhelds side-by-side and it was like looking at Natalie Portman sat next to Dot Cotton from EastEnders.
JC..
monday, dec 20, 2004 (07:39 AM UTC)
hope everyone had a great weekend..ok, lets catch up with some nat 'happenings'..
melody nelson scanned a very positive review of closer within (french) cinelive mag..
sonoyta found some nat compliments from clive owen..
amidoll found a great 'for your consideration' ad with nat and clive..
acacia uploaded two more clips from garden state at his website..
twig sez the latest entertainment weekly mag has a review of the garden state dvd (B+)..
amidoll sez there are lots of nat mentions in richard roeper's end-of-the-year rant..
finally, closer earned an estimated $3,500,000 playing at 1090 theaters over the weekend..
it was ranked 9th based on estimates..
JC..
thursday, dec 16, 2004 (02:35 AM UTC)
peter travers of 'rolling stone' has selected 'closer' (#7) in his year in movies..
acacia of nat-portman.net 'sez' nat has been nominated for best supporting actress in the critics' choice awards, and ign has chosen nat as the "Hottest Movie Babe... almost"..visit acacia's website for more details..
judy wrote in and asked me to 'pass this along' :)
I met Natalie Portman at the party at Spago's after the premiere. I introduced myself to her and told her that she will surely win an Oscar nomination for her role in Closer. Well, now there is a great chance that she will get that Oscar nomination. If you can get this email to her, I'm the one who came from Indiana to see the movie. Tell her "I told her so!" What a doll she was. Thanks for passing this along.
JC..
wednesday, dec 15, 2004 (07:39 AM UTC)
amidoll posted that nat came in at # 7 out of 100 people of 2004, as chosen by usa today's "pop candy" - a weekly column about popular culture, written by whitney matheson..
acacia of nat-portman.net posted an avi (movie clip) plus lots of screen shots from garden state dvd..
i found an ign review of the garden state dvd..
JC..
tuesday, dec 14, 2004 (updated at 10:37 AM Jerusalem Time [UTC/GMT +2 hours..])
why use the time in Jerusalem?? read on..
excerpt:
Natalie Portman was in Jerusalem reading a book when she got a call from her manager telling her she had been nominated in the best supporting actress category for her work in "Closer." Although the movie claimed five nominations, her co-stars Julia Roberts and Jude Law were left out of the mix. "When you make a movie like this, you're really all there with each other, supporting each other, and it feels funny when it's not all of you who get recognized," Portman said. "This is always nice, but we had such a beautiful experience that that's the most important thing."
source..
meanwhile, contactmusic has a blurb on nat's involvement in FINCA..
finally, there's a pic of nat from closer in a feature on golden globe nominees on the front page of imdb, which is most likely time sensitive..
JC..
monday, dec 13, 2004 (06:05 AM *morning* Pacific Standard Time)
nat has been nominated for best supporting actress in a motion picture drama for closer and closer garnered a total of 5 golden globe nominations..
JC..
sunday, dec 12, 2004 (10:55 PM Pacific Standard Time)
hi, i'm using Pacific Standard Time for the sake of the following time sensitive headsup:
according to hfpa.org, "The Hollywood Foreign Press Association will announce the nominations for the 62nd Annual Golden Globe Awards on Monday December 13th 2004, starting at 5.30 a.m. PST."
and according to b.o.m. closer played in 622 theaters and according to Angry Liberal, "Closer made $3.75 million this weekend, a dropoff of more than half of last weekend's total. It still had a per screen average that was second in the top ten. It placed eighth in the top ten. Its total stands at $13.755 million."
meanwhile, on the news tidbits thread, Amidoll found a writeup from "The Australian," Dazza a blurb from contact music, and GVCarroll sez nat's car needs an upgrade..
further down the same thread, lurking posted the noms for an award plus a blurb from dave poland, Dazza found an interesting writeup and Gisele1983 sez nat was on "Steve Jones" presumably promoting closer??
fingers crossed that nat gets at least a nomination..
JC..
thursday, dec 9, 2004 (9:19 AM UTC)..
am down with a bad cold..please forgive this abbreviated update..
pasha found some new old pics of nat..
according to bravotv, the making of closer will be shown on today at 4:30 PM ET (cable; check local listings)..
JC..
wednesday, dec 8, 2004 (2 PM UTC)..
Tufkad of natalieempire.com sez that nat will be on ellen today..check local listings..
JC..
tuesday, dec 7, 2004 (3:59 AM UTC)..
first up, juanma marks his 200th post with screen caps of nat from closer (warning: rated pg-13)..
please click here for the latest on the closer thread..
vampirejing is exhorting everyone to vote for nat..
finally, further to yesterday's update, cal confirms that closer will go wide from dec 10th..thanks cal!!
JC..
monday, dec 6, 2004 (9:19 AM UTC)..
sorry for the lack of updates over the weekend..having major problems with batgirl..
the closer thread grows and grows..
close..
closer..
closest..
right, according to b.o.m., closer goes "wide" (??) on dec 10th and earned $7.7 million [est] having opened in only 476 theaters over the weekend..
JC..
friday, dec 3, 2004 (8:23 AM UTC)..
well folks, closer opens today stateside..check out the closer thread for the latest..
just an excerpt to a yahoo news/variety report cal found: "Sony opens helmer Mike Nichols' "Closer" on 476 screens this weekend. [..] Pic will expand by about 150 theaters next week and then play at around 1,000 at its widest point of release set for Dec. 17. [..]"
update: 9:09 AM UTC: do visit the official site and enter your zip code for theaters near you or yahoo movies as an alternative..
for international folks, keep an eye on this page..
JC..
thursday, dec 2, 2004 (4:39 AM UTC)..
scrolling down the closer thread, do check out the following: tufkad found an aol clip, dazza found an article by patrick marber, acacia found another fyc ad, juanma found a writeup from seattle weekly, sonoyta found that closer wins best acting by an ensemble by the national board of review, cal found academy screenings for closer and angry liberal sez closer is the most requested film on moviefone.com..
meanwhile, m5lover, juanma and lurking found some nat blurbs mostly concerning future roles..
finally, cal posted a garden state box office update..
to echo cal (and greg), i would like to protest fox searchlight pictures' tepid and weak promotion for nat and for garden state in general!!
JC..
wednesday, dec 1, 2004 (2:30 AM UTC)..
hi there, i'm trying UTC (or GMT/Zulu) time in keeping with this being a global page..
okie dokie, on with nat news as it never stops like the time, angry liberal sez regis philbin is raving about closer and found a weekend warrior report, amidoll, dazza and sonoyta found more closer blurbs..
finally, kris has uploaded part 3 of the 'inside the actor's studio' vidclip at natalieportman.com..thanks kris!!
JC..
please click here for all of november 2004 updates..