Has Queen Amidala turned to the dark side?
Natalie Portman, a paragon of virtue in the Star Wars films and an actress often typecast as the girl next door, is the talk of the town at the Venice Film Festival this week with her racy, gritty role in the ballerina thriller Black Swan.
The film is earning early Oscar buzz for Portman, 29, who “hyper-trained” for six months for the extremely physical role, and who shares a steamy lesbian love scene in the movie with actress Mila Kunis.