Natalie Portman has a pair of blockbuster franchises under her belt. We kind of forget that she was a key figure in the Star Wars prequels, and that she was Jane Foster in a pair of Thor movies. But overall, neither experience was fulfilling for her, and after Thor: The Dark World she was pretty open about not wanting to do more. Things change, though, and while Portman is currently earning Best Actress hype for her incredible performance in Jackie, she's also reconsidering aspects of her career, and a return to Marvel could be in the cards.
Speaking with Deadline, Portman now says she is open to "figuring out" the whole tentpole thing, partially as a means of making movies for her son...
“It is amazing to get to make movies that become part of so many people’s imaginations because it really is so widespread and now having a little boy too, you really see how much this becomes part of play and imagination and your internal life as a kid. It is really an incredible thing to get to be part of. As an actor it is like a completely different scale. Because when you are making those movies you are working with so much blue screen and so much fantasy, your imagination has to be so much larger.
It is really challenging for me that and I don’t feel like I have gotten it yet. I don’t feel like I have understood it yet. It is something that I’m fascinated by, because I’m really challenged by it more than anything almost. Because when you are in a room that looks like a room and has all the things a room has in it, you can interact with all that stuff, and all that stuff does what it does in life. You don’t have to imagine anything. You are just in the emotional state of your character. When you are doing those blue screen movies, you have to imagine everything outside and within. You have to create the whole world. It is like being a kid again."
When asked point blank about returning to Marvel, Portman added "Yeah, well hopefully one day I figure it out"!
There's practically zero chance she pops up in Thor: Ragnarok, but consider this: Thor is likely to take a hiatus of some kind after Avengers: Infinity War. So what are the chances Portman plays the female Thor, who we know from the comics is Jane Foster? I could see it happening under the right circumstances, like say...Patty Jenkins as director? Portman was publicly upset when Jenkins was fired from Thor: The Dark World, and this might be a good way to lure her back.
