As the Awards Season Hot Take Machine revs up, get ready to see a lot of conflicting opinions about “Vox Lux.” Once you see the movie, which our own Jessica Kiang called “actively, chewily unboring,” you’ll no doubt have some questions. Is Brady Corbet’s pop star picture intentionally, deliciously vapid and pretentious, or is it simply intolerable? Has lead Natalie Portman found her best role yet, or is she the lone shining light in an otherwise head-scratching film? (For what it’s worth, I am firmly in the former camps.) Though they didn’t answer those questions at a recent Q&A hosted by Film Forum, Portman and Corbet graciously shed some light on their unpredictable project.
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Despite the film’s gaudy, glittery indulgence, the director and star greeted their hundred-ish-person audience in jeans and sweaters, humble before the modest crowd. Corbet and Portman, the polar opposite of her terminally insecure, Kanye-esque character Celeste, thanked the audience effusively before answering questions from film writer Tomris Laffly.
The conversation focused primarily on the construction of the movie and Portman’s role. Both were somewhat fortuitous—the project has been in the works since 2015, and Portman and Corbet had never worked together before “Vox Lux.”
“When I got the script, it was just a character that was like a gift on the page,” Portman said. “Just, extreme specificity, and like a real person who’s constantly shifting and showing these different sides.”
“We had a very easy time communicating with one another,” Corbet agreed. “There were a lot of things that were hopefully evident on the page, but we trusted one another.”
When talking about performance, the two were also sure to give a shout out to Raffey Cassidy, who plays both young Celeste and Celeste’s daughter. “I think I told her occasionally to try and hit her focus mark,” Corbet joked, “but that was about it.” The director also noted his very intentional choice to have Cassidy switch roles halfway through the film. “It’s supposed to feel like a betrayal.”
That’s not the film’s only emotional manipulation, though—it also both satirizes and seriously tackles the distracting-yet-artistic world of pop music. Its infectious soundtrack by Sia (without whom, Corbet noted, the movie probably could not have been made) is at once incredibly listenable and intentionally insipid. Portman’s performance of the music in “Vox Lux” follows a similar vein: the film’s final sequence sees Celeste writhing along to the beat in a glittery jumpsuit as nonsense words erupt on a screen behind her.
“It’s almost impossible to go far enough,” Corbet said of Celeste’s tough-yet-strange pop star persona. “Same thing with, like, the text and stuff during the concert. I went and saw a lot of pop concerts for the year leading up to this, and I noticed that there was always this text on the screen behind performers that doesn’t really mean anything.”
“What was it, BABY AVEC CASH?” Portman laughed, citing one of the more ridiculous examples in the film. “That’s my autobiography title.”
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Of course, the duo also commented on the film’s 21st-century setting and, per Portman, the “absurd tragedy” of art and violence and pop culture it encapsulates. It’s explosive opening, inspired by the Columbine shootings, signals the film’s unexpectedly dark tone.
Much like its star and director, though, “Vox Lux” is eager to poke fun at itself. When discussing the film’s soundtrack, Portman joked about her musical inexperience and the kindness of heavy pop production. “I listened to it after, I was like, ‘Doesn’t sound like me, and sounds great!’”
“Vox Lux” is now playing in theaters.