Natalie Portman: ‘Mike Nichols Saved Me’

Since Mike Nichols passed away, a number of celebrities, including Natalie Portman, have come forward to talk about the influence he had on their lives. Mike Nichols has been remembered as one of the best directors of his generation, and in the case of Natalie Portman, someone who saved her career. The actress gave a recent interview, where Natalie made it clear she likely wouldn’t have had the longevity she’s already enjoyed. Portman said Mike Nichols also allowed her to have as successful a career as she has had.

According to E! Online, Natalie released a statement saying Mike Nichols first helped her find herself as an actress when the two worked together on the stage play, The Seagull. Later in her career, Natalie Portman again worked with Nichols when Mike directed her in Closer. The actress paid tribute shortly after she learned of the 83-year-old director’s death.

“He was the one who had the best words, the right hug for hard times, the funny comment to diffuse your pain,” Portman said. “He saved me again and again. He was the best way to be a person and an artist. And the most, most fun. I send my deepest love to Diane,Jenny, Max, Daisy and their children, who filled his days with light.”

(Diane is Diane Sawyer who was married to Mike Nichols since the mid 1980s.)

Clearly, Mike Nichols knew what Natalie Portman had to offer on the stage and the screen. Natalie got her first Oscar nomination — Best Supporting Actress — for her role in Closer. In that film, Portman played an American stripper working in London who harbored a large number of secrets. That movie was one in which Mike Nichols was able to get Natalie to move in a slightly different direction in her career. Closer represented the most sexually charged role for Portman.

Perhaps one of the reasons the actress was so devoted to the director was based on a decision that kept something out of his movie. There was one scene from that film that included a rather controversial nude depiction the actress. In the end, he decided to leave it out of the final product. She later said she didn’t feel as though the deleted scenes were remotely needed in order to tell the story. Mike Nichols clearly had a great deal of respect for Natalie Portman as well, once giving an interview where he said some people don’t expect someone as beautiful as her to also be a great actress.