Natalie Portman has been away from the public eye for a while. After having her baby and appearing in 2011’s Thor, she vanished for a couple of years. Now she seems to be back and is making up for lost time. In the next year or two, we’ll see her in Thor: The Dark World, Terrence Malick’s Knight of Cups, another Malick film that is currently untitled and of course, Jane Got A Gun. Now, she’s adding another project to her plate but this time she’ll be stepping behind the camera as well as in front of it.
Portman will head to Israel this September to begin scouting locations for her directorial debut A Tale of Love and Darkness, based on Amos Oz’s memoir of the same name. The project was announced back in 2007 but nothing ever came of it. Now it seems that Portman’s interest has been re-ignited. She has apparently co-written the script with two other screenwriters and has received Oz’s approval.
Here’s the Amazon synopsis of the book in case you’re not familiar with it.
It is the story of a boy growing up in the war-torn Jerusalem of the forties and fifties, in a small apartment crowded with books in twelve languages and relatives speaking nearly as many. His mother and father, both wonderful people, were ill-suited to each other. When Oz was twelve and a half years old, his mother committed suicide, a tragedy that was to change his life. He leaves the constraints of the family and the community of dreamers, scholars, and failed businessmen, and joins a kibbutz. He changes his name, marries, has children, and finally becomes a writer as well as an active participant in the political life of Israel.
A story of clashing cultures and lives, of suffering and perseverance, of love and darkness.
Though we’re unsure if she has financing yet or not, Portman has got the ball rolling and we should start to see everything come together quite soon. We’re hearing that she also hopes to act in the film as well as direct but there’s no information on which role she’ll take.
I’m not familiar at all with the book but I do love Portman as an actress and am interested to see what she does with her directorial debut. Well, feature film debut that is. She previously directed a short as well as a segment in New York, I Love You.
Stay tuned as we’ll be sure to bring you more on A Tale of Love and Darkness as further news arises.
