'V' is for the virtue of her commanding presence

For Jerusalem-born Natalie Portman, the violence in 'Vendetta' has meaning

Here's the story: A young woman becomes the reluctant ward and student of a strange masked terrorist, ultimately joining him in his bombing crusade — and she does it with a shaved head!

Just imagine how thrilled Natalie Portman's managers must have been when she eagerly pursued the part of Evey Hammond in "V for Vendetta."

(enlarge photo) Natalie Portman stars as Evey in Warner Bros. Pictures' and Virtual Studios' action thriller 'V for Vendetta,' distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. Movie review

"They definitely voiced reservations," Portman says by phone from New York. "It's a pretty provocative and potentially controversial movie, so it wasn't wholeheartedly endorsed. But, obviously, they respect the Wachowskis as filmmakers."

Adapted from the Alan Moore/David Lloyd graphic novel by brothers Larry and Andy Wachowski, who made "The Matrix," "Vendetta" stars Portman as the emotional anchor in a political thriller rocked by big explosions.

Best known for playing sparky, adorable young things ("Beautiful Girls," "Garden State") or parading gonzo headdresses through the FX overkill of the "Star Wars" prequels, Portman's role in "Vendetta" confirms her status as a serious, daring actress. The Golden Globe win and Oscar nomination she earned for 2004's "Closer" weren't flukes.

In past years, Portman turned down some films because they seemed, well, too dark. Yet "dark" definitely applies to "Vendetta."

Portman started her acting career at 11, and she says she felt some screen experiences were potentially too disturbing for someone so young. "But I'm almost 25 now," adds the actress, now in high demand and having to squeeze a few minutes into her schedule for one more hurried conversation. "I can handle things a little bit more, and I have a stable sense of who I am that's not going to be traumatized by certain material."

Besides, the questions "Vendetta" raises about terrorism hold a personal interest. Born in Jerusalem, and a recent student at its Hebrew University (following a psychology degree from Harvard), she grew up well aware of the terrorism that's ripped the Middle East for decades.

"Terrorism and violence are questions I've thought about so much," she says. "For a lot of Westerners, it's a new concept, or event, to deal with, but it's been an ongoing part of my life. You have to ask, 'Why would people try to do this to me? Why would they use violence to explain their beliefs?' "

"Vendetta" doesn't answer that but raises the question in ways meant to inspire debate.

"People have such wildly different interpretations [about the movie]," Portman says, "but that's the beauty of something that takes place in an imagined future."

Remembering that she's speaking to a reporter from Atlanta, birthplace of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s civil rights movement and its Gandhi-inspired nonviolent tactics, she says, "I'm very much for nonviolence, of course. But nonviolence can sometimes be impossible in a violent world."

During the "Vendetta" shoot, she and others on the set read David Mitchell's novel "Cloud Atlas," which partly tells the pre-colonization history of New Zealand's indigenous Moriori people.

"They believed that if you committed violence, it would taint your soul, and anyone who committed the slightest act of violence would be ejected from society," Portman says. "But then the Europeans came, and they were violent. And now the Moriori barely exist."

She also mentions Gandhi's statement that, rather than fighting their Nazi captors, Jews in the Holocaust should have committed mass suicide to draw the world's attention to their plight. "But that's committing violence to yourself," she says. She also quotes '60s activists featured in the documentary "The Weather Underground":

"They said that sometimes when you're not doing something about violence, then you're complicit in that violence."

OK, maybe enough with the political/philosophical stuff. Let's talk about moviemaking nuts and bolts.

Which is harder? Working against green screens in "Star Wars," acting with co-stars who exist only in a computer, or playing your big dramatic scenes to a man hidden behind a mask?

"Definitely green-screen work, because you're acting with nothing," she says. "In this case, I was working with a great actor, Hugo Weaving."

Through his voice and body language, the "Matrix" star (he played Agent Smith) was usually able to communicate his emotions. When he couldn't, that was OK, too. "As an actress, I was always wondering, 'What's going on behind that mask? Is he happy? Is he angry?' "

One thing was for sure: He was wet. "Hugo was a real trouper — he was not comfortable," she says. "When they took the mask off him for breaks, it was like he was in a downpour, he was sweating so much."

Portman had to act one of her strongest emotional moments opposite an even harder scene partner: A note from a prisoner named Valerie, written on ... a sheet of toilet paper. Difficult?

Portman laughs. "Absolutely. But they had Natasha [Wightman], who played Valerie, reading it for me [off-camera]. So it was a pretty emotional experience to have someone speaking it to you."

Now, what about the Wachowskis, who long ago refused to speak to the press and disappeared from the Hollywood spotlight? Portman says they were far from elusive during the movie; they were on set every day to support director James McTeigue, their first assistant director on all three "Matrix" movies.

"You get the idea that they would be very closed-off, but they're really open and more down-to-earth than anyone I've ever worked with. They're just regular guys — except they've got these amazing minds."

But not minds amazing enough to make "Vendetta" author Alan Moore change his mind about removing his name from the movie, after his graphic novel "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" was turned into a special-effects miasma that had little to do with the source material.

"He made his decision without seeing our movie, obviously," Portman says. "Well, not obviously — I have no idea if he's seen it, or will. But we were all fans of the graphic novel, and we did the film with only the greatest admiration."

With that, Portman has to hang up. It's the week when she's rehearsing for her hosting gig on "Saturday Night Live" ... on which, in a few days, her hilariously profane rap video, satirically exploding her good-girl image, will prove she doesn't plan to stop surprising us.