Portman’s monologue towards the end of Todd Haynes’s acclaimed drama is one of the film’s most memorable scenes. <\/p>
One of the standout moments in Todd Haynes\u2019s acclaimed new drama May December comes in its very closing stages \u2013 when Natalie Portman\u2019s Elizabeth delivers a memorable three-minute monologue straight to camera.<\/p>\n
In the scene, Elizabeth is delivering the monologue not as herself, but as Julianne Moore<\/a>\u2018s character Gracie \u2013 who she has been studying before portraying her in a television film \u2013 with the speech taking the form of a love letter that Gracie had previously written to her much younger lover Joe.<\/p>\n And, speaking during an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com<\/a>, Portman revealed how the monologue was \u201can incredible opportunity\u201d for her as an actor.<\/p> \u201cIt\u2019s very rare to get something that\u2019s written as precisely as Samy [Burch, screenwriter] wrote that, and then also to have it framed in that way that Todd chose to frame it,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n \u201cWith this kind of straight onto camera, using the camera as a sort of mirror, which really kind of expresses that concept of reflection and identity and performance, like the reflection as the audience, in a way.\u201d<\/p>\n She added: \u201cAnd then, of course, for the character to have this thing that is may<\/span>be the most truthful she is the entire film, but it\u2019s a performance, and to really kind of embrace the artifice of it.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd the performative aspect of it was really exciting, it was very scary. But it was one of the most exciting challenges of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n It was Portman who first brought the film\u2019s script to Carol and Far From Heaven director Haynes after being sent it by producer Jessica Elbaum, and she explained that it allowed her to fulfil a long-term ambition of working with both the filmmaker and co-star Moore.<\/p>\n \u201cI was blown away by the complexity of the characters,\u201d she explained. \u201cParticularly to have two female characters in one film that are both so layered is so rare, and dealing with many of these questions of performance and identity that I knew Todd Haynes had grappled with so well in previous films.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd, of course, [he] is just a master of depicting the complicated psyche of complicated women. And I dreamed of working with him forever \u2013 and Julie, of course \u2013 and so it was just the dream of all dreams when he agreed to make it and then also lured Julie into the play!\u201d<\/p>\n May December is now available to stream on Sky Cinema and NOW.\u00a0<\/strong>Check out more of our\u00a0Film<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Drama<\/a>\u00a0coverage, or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Streaming Guide<\/a>\u00a0to find out what\u2019s on.<\/strong><\/p>\n Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only \u00a310 \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>subscribe now<\/strong><\/a>. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to\u00a0<\/strong>The Radio Times Podcast<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n Portman’s monologue towards the end of Todd Haynes’s acclaimed drama is one of the film’s most memorable scenes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Portman's monologue towards the end of Todd Haynes's acclaimed drama is one of the film's most memorable scenes.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/41522"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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