Natalie Portman: We need to hear more ‘women’s voices’ in film

Natalie Portman is going to use her maternity leave to write a new movie.
The ‘Black Swan’ actress is expecting her second child with husband Benjamin Millepied – with whom she already has five-year-old son Aleph – and is due to give birth in a matter of weeks.
Natalie is going to take much-deserved break from filmmaking to focus on her new baby but she also wants to use that time off to create a big screen project which she can direct.
The Oscar winner – who previously helmed 2015 drama ‘A Tale of Love and Darkness’ – said: "I will be having some maternity leave. I need to write, to take some time, get a little focus."
Natalie is determined to use her craft to promote feminism in the world and thinks it’s "crazy" that there aren’t more "women’s voices" being heard in film.
Although the 35-year-old actress "loves watching" movies made by male filmmakers, she believes it’s time to "make a change" and get more female-directed productions made by Hollywood.
In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, she said: "Every year it’s exclusively male-directed, written and filmed movies that we’re talking about in awards season. Not that men shouldn’t be making films. I love watching men’s films. It’s just crazy that there is such a minority of women’s voices out there.
"If someone notices that there’s only one woman at the table they need to make a change. Or if they notice that there are no minorities getting prominent roles in film … they need to make a change."
And although the ‘Jackie’ star wants more female leaders in the world of cinema, she doesn’t believe the world would be a better place if it were entirely run by women, as she says there’s no "gender differences" when it comes to being "human beings".
She said: "We’re human beings. There are good ones, there are bad ones, and everyone is going to be a mix of everything. We should know by now that female leaders aren’t inherently better people or inherently better anything. I don’t think there are gender differences in the quality of work of anything – as artists, as business people, as human beings. It’s simply humans. And women have been excluded from many opportunities."