Natalie Portman says going bald for her role in the film, "V for Vendetta," wasn't as upsetting as some might expect.
In this political thriller based on Alan Moore's graphic novel, Portman plays a woman whose captors in a futuristic, totalitarian Britain try to strip away her identity by shaving her head.
"Personally, I was excited to have the opportunity to throw vanity away for a little and go around with no hair," the "Closer" and "Garden State" beauty told reporters in New York. "I was in character at the moment it happened. So, for her, it is a very traumatic experience. She is not choosing it. It's being forced upon her as a pretty violent act."
What made the scene particularly stressful, she said, was there was only one chance to get it right.
"In movies, we're so spoiled," she noted. "You can always do it again and this was not the case. We had several cameras that rehearsed many times shooting it and they shaved other guys' arms, beards, heads to make sure the razor wasn't going to mess up and I just tried to stay focused and do my best job with the one chance we had."
© Copyright 2006 by United Press International
