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Natalie Portmansays her husbandBenjamin Millepieddid not need her help while making his new movieCarmen.
At the premiere of 41-year-old Portman’s new HBO docuseriesAngel Cityin Los Angeles Thursday, theOscarwinner tells PEOPLE that Millepied “knows what needs doing” when it comes to stepping behind the camera for his feature-length directorial debut.
Portman herself has directed before, making the short filmEve(2008) and the biographical dramaA Tale of Love and Darkness(2015).
“He doesn’t need to,” she says, when asked whether she provided Millepied, 45, with any guidance for the movie. “He knows what needs doing.”
Millepied, for his part, recently indicated that Portman’s overall presence on sets with him in the past and as he filmedCarmenin Australia “informed a lot of things.”
“Yeah, of course. Of course,” Millepied previously told PEOPLE when asked whether Portman advised him onCarmen. “I think also being on set and hearing what ignites her creativity, [as] a director, was something that I had heard.”
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Portman and Millepied first met when he worked as a choreographer on her 2010 movieBlack Swan. Theymarried in 2012and have since welcomed son Aleph, 11, and daughter Amalia.
CarmenstarMelissa Barrerapreviously told PEOPLE that the coupletreated her like familywhile filming in Australia in 2021.
Natalie Portman.Monica Schipper/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images
The three-part docuseriesAngel Citycovers the inception and first year of Los Angeles' professional women’s soccer team Angel City Football Club, which Portman has a majority ownership stake in. The club began to play in theNational Women’s Soccer Leaguein 2022, finishing ineighth placeout of the league’s 12 teams during its inaugural season.
“And I saw my son looking up to the female athletes the same way that he looked up to his male heroes, and I was like, ‘Wow, this is really culture shifting,’ " Portman says. “And you can amplify female athletes because sports is so central about culture.”
Angel Citydebuts on HBO May 16 and will be available to stream on HBO Max.
source: people.com
