For anyone who’s ever sat all the way through the end of a movie’s credits and wondered what the heck a key grip, assistant casting director, or sound editor does, Natalie Portman has unveiled a new online venture, MakingOf, that she hopes will explain all that. “I always wondered why there isn’t a Web site that encapsulated the experience of visiting a friend on a movie set,†Portman explained. “Our site is supposed to give access to people who don’t have a friend they can visit†— meaning pretty much everyone, and definitely us.
Still, it sounds like a noble undertaking, aiming to provide videotaped interviews with big and small players across the Hollywood spectrum (they’ve already checked in with Billy Bob Thornton, Michel Gondry, and composer Adrian Younge). So maybe this explains what she was doing sucking face with Sean Penn a few months back — she was angling for an interview!
Portman Takes Us Behind the Scenes [Tribeca Film Festival]