Blonde and Brunette

An Imdb user, I suppose it's a girl who describes some similarities between Natalie Portman and Kirsten Dunst careers, it's a bit excessive connecting random dots, but gathers some curious parallellisms.

by - misses_betty_betty (Tue Jul 25 2006 08:10:57)

"While Kirsten is most often compared with other young actress (or even older ones) she appears to have more in common- personally and career-wise- with Natalie Portman.

Both: **have a foreign-born father; **have been involved with a twenty-something, popular actor- Kirsten with Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie with Gael Garcia Bernal; **were raised in the East Coast; fell for a co-star when a teenager- Kirsten for Ben Foster, Natalie for Lukas Haas; **turned down a role during her teen years because it required some sort of nudity- Kirsten turned down American Beauty, Natalie turned down Lolita; **consistently beat out Christina Ricci for roles during their teens- Ricci once commented that many of the roles she's played were originally offered to Natalie; **started out as a model; **have done comedies with: Dustin Hoffman, Gabby Hoffman; **have done dramas with: Susan Sarandon, Marcia Gay Harden, Julia Roberts; **is friends with a director who's directed them twice in critically acclaimed performances (ya know, is MA is critically acclaimed this October).

Things get weird with: **In Garden State, Natalie starred with Peter Sarsgaard who is involved with Kirsten's former costar Maggie Gyllenhaal, the older sister of Jake Gyllenhaal, who Kirsten was involved with. Jake and Natalie were seen together around NYC during several months in 2002. Kirsten, in Marie Antoinette, is the superior of Jamie Dornan, who is the ex-boyfriend of Keira Knightley, who played Natalie's subordinate in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. In Marie Antoinette, Kirsten is also the superior of Rose Byrne, who played Natalie's subordinate in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. In Star Wars: AOTC, Natalie played opposite Hayden Christiansen, who Kirsten worked with in The Virgin Suicides. **In 2006, both play foreign, high-ranking members of society in historical films. Kirsten plays Marie Antoinette in Marie Antoinette; Natalie plays two characters- Inez and Alicia- in Goya's Ghosts. **At 23, Kirsten played Claire, a quirky woman who falls in love with and cheers up a depressed young man; the filmed is named after a real city, Elizabethtown; music is featured prominently in the film, including a song by The Shins. At 23, Natalie played Sam, a neurotic woman who falls in love with and cheers up a depressed young man; the film is named after a state; music is featured prominently in the film, including a song by The Shins.

Weirder still? **Kirsten is a supporting actor in the major movie franchise Spider-Man; Natalie is a supporting actor in the major movie franchise Star Wars. **Within a year of each other, they each played a young Russian woman in the 1800's, who flirts with and manipulates her older suitors while a young man pines for her. Kirsten in All Forgotten and Natalie in The Seagull. **Both have played young women trying to survive the Holocaust: Kirsten in The Devils Arithmetic (1999); Natalie in The Diary of Anne Frank (1998). **In 1995, both spent most of their screen time in the comedies Jumanji and Mars Attacks! running from either large animals or aliens. **Both have played stuck-up prepsters with Gabby Hoffman as their best friend: Kirsten in Strike!; Natalie in Everyone Says I Love You.**Natalie Portman attempted to audition for the role of Amy in Little Women but was turned away for being too old (some say ethnic). In Little Women, Kirsten plays Amy- a rather shallow young girl who is the opposite of her much more grounded mother in almost every way- and Susan Sarandon plays her mother. Later, in Anywhere but Here, Natalie would play Ann-a very grounded young girl who is the opposite of her rather shallow mother in almost every way- and her mother would be played by Susan Sarandon. **Both had their breakout role at the age of 12: Kirsten, Interview with the Vampire; Natalie, The Professional. Both played orphaned young girls taken in by an older man, who they then formed an intense bond with and whom they wanted to kill someone else. **In most of the cases, they were only a year apart."