Natalie Portman has praised ‘Annihilation’ for it’s "amazing" script which she believes helps to empower women.
The 36-year-old actress is set to star as Lena in the science fiction horror movie which centres around a group of female scientists on a military expedition to a mysterious quarantined zone known as ‘The Shimmer’, and has said the idea of having an all-female cast is "so simple", but hopes it will help "normalise" the concept for future movies.
Speaking to Collider, Natalie said: "It was definitely amazing to me when I read it, how radical that felt from something so simple. Like we’re so used to seeing five men go on an expedition together in films. That’s like, a regular part of like every war movie, or every exploration movie. The fact that it’s even noted that when you see group of all women you’re like ‘Oh, this feels different.’
"I just think normalising that … normalising a group of women working together is everything. Because then it also allows women to just be taken for their personalities, or talents, or ideas, as opposed to ‘Oh she’s the woman’. You’re not like, representing your entire gender, you’re just … you can have a personality. Like she’s the this one, she’s the that one. Instead of she’s the girl."
The movie also stars Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson and Tuva Novotny as the scientists who accompany Lena into The Shimmer in an attempt to find out what happened to the last expedition team, which included Lena’s husband Kane, played by Oscar Isaac.
‘Annihilation’ was directed by Alex Garland, and was based on the novel of the same name by Jeff VanderMeer.
The production was released in America by Paramount Pictures on Friday (23.02.18), and will receive an international release on March 12 through Netflix.
Natalie Portman praises Annihilation’s ‘amazing’ script
