Natalie Portman and Paul Mescal on Playing Bad People, ‘Healing’ Sex Scenes, and Being ‘Willing to F— Up’ as an Actor

variety.com:

Natalie Portman and Paul Mescal are actors whose craft inspires as much admiration as the finished product on-screen. Portman, whose career now spans more than 30 years, including films like “Black Swan” and “Thor: Love and Thunder,” keeps us enthralled — this time, with her simmering performance in Todd Haynes’ psychodrama “May December.” The Oscar winner portrays an actress preparing to play a tabloid fascination (Julianne Moore), who became romantically involved with her husband (Charles Melton) when he was 13.

Mescal, whose meteoric rise began in 2020 as a tortured young man in love with a damaged introvert in Hulu’s “Normal People,” delivers another poignant turn in Andrew Haigh’s “All of Us Strangers.” A meditation on grief and regret, the film sees Mescal as the free-spirited neighbor and potential mate to a screenwriter (Andrew Scott) quite literally haunted by his past.

Together, Portman and Mescal discuss physical transformation, the positive evolution of sex on film and the directors who changed their lives. PAUL MESCAL: I just want to say how utterly brilliant you are in “May December.” The fact that it’s innately about an actor’s process — was that a big part of why you said yes to this project? NATALIE PORTMAN: One of the things I loved about Samy Burch’s script for “May December” was all the questions it raised about how [actors] are seeking to understand the human heart.

But there’s also the paradox that you’re cannibalizing emotions and stealing people’s true stories, true feelings, and exploiting them. MESCAL: The film navigates that in such an elegant and funny way.