Coming Attractions; A sneak peek ahead: Meet the people behind some of the fall's big offerings. First, a film whose characters destroy each other--and whose cast adores each other.(Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman and Jude Law star in Closer, a new movie from Mike Nichols)(Interview)(Biography)

Publication: Newsweek

Publication Date: 30-AUG-04

Bookmark this article Print this article Link to this article Email this article Digg It! Add to del.icio.us RSS

COPYRIGHT 2004 Newsweek, Inc. All rights reserved. Any reuse, distribution or alteration without express written permission of Newsweek is prohibited. For permission: www.newsweek.com

Byline: Sean Smith

On the first day of shooting their new film, Natalie Portman gave Julia Roberts a gift. The two women had never met, and because Portman had always admired Roberts, she decided to present her with a delicate silver necklace. On the chain were four letters that spelled out the most profane term for the female anatomy--otherwise known as the C word. "I just thought that was hilarious," Portman says. "But then I was like, 'I hope I don't offend her'." Nope. Compared with what Roberts has to hear, and say, in "Closer," it's practically sweet talk. Directed by Mike Nichols and adapted from the acclaimed play by Patrick Marber, "Closer" stars Portman, Roberts, Jude Law and Clive Owen as strangers who fall in love and then proceed to destroy one another with cruelty, infidelity and narcissism. As in Nichols's early films, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "Carnal Knowledge," the dialogue is shocking, as much for its emotional nakedness as for its raw language. When Roberts first...

Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.