Natalie Portman is proud of her heritage but tries to steer clear of Jewish roles—"I've always tried to stay away from playing Jews," she reveals in an interview with Elle UK. "I get like 20 Holocaust scripts a month, but I hate the genre." A project has to hold special appeal, like last year's New York, I Love You, in which she played a Hasidic bride. And don't plan on seeing her nude on the big screen.
"I just don't want do something that will end up as a screen grab on a porn site, so meanwhile I'm doing halfsies—I'm like, 'I'll show my butt but not my boobs.'" Her attitude stems from her debut role in The Professional. "There was a lot of controversy about the whole Lolita thing. I got a lot of weird letters," she says. "I didn't want to be seen as a sex object, so I went the opposite direction." The Daily News and Independent have excerpts.
(More Natalie Portman stories.)