Queen my Amidala

What I read from an interview with Mike Nichols, director of the movie, "Closer". It stars Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Clive Owen and Natalie Portman.

Q: What about the decision to excise the footage of Natalie Portman nude?


Mike: That’s really just two seconds. All it is is this. What you’re seeing in the picture is from the back, she goes like this and closes up her brassiere. I also had it from the front, so you had maybe a second and a half of Natalie and then her bra was closed. That’s all there ever was, that’s all I ever shot. But it has a sort of like of its own. It sort of keeps coming back and people are saying, “Is it online? Can we see it?’”

Q: Is it?


Mike: No. Because my deal with Natalie was, I said, “It’s your body, you decide. We’ll shoot what we shoot and then I’ll show you and you’ll decide what you want to show and what you don’t, and it’s not anybody else’s decision or business.” And then she thought it over having seen it and she said, “I really don’t want to be walking down the street and see a guy and wonder whether he’s seen my tits.” So when I took it out, and it really was a couple of seconds- that’s all there is, that’s all there ever was- it was better, because the scene and the picture are not about showing anything. They’re about experiencing- seeing him seeing it. We don’t see it. He’s looking.

Don't sweat it, Max. With your God-given skills, I'm sure you can track that little bit of omitted footage and share it with us.