An Oscar Win for Natalie Portman Could Make Her One of the Highest Paid Actresses in Hollywood

By Jo Piazza Posted Jan 28th 2011 02:46PM

Oscar watchers are all but guaranteeing that Natalie Portman will take home a little gold man for her work in 'Black Swan.' That $400 statuette may be the ultimate vanity prize in Hollywood, but it also carries some substantial clout in generating future value for an actor or an actress.

See, a little gold man tomorrow is actually worth more than a little gold man today.

Hollywood agents and managers estimate their clients get a 20 percent bump in their asking price for the next film they negotiate immediately following an Academy Award win for best actor or best actress.

An Oscar raises a performer's monetary quote, but also makes a difference in the types of material they are considered for. Directors and producers start to look at newer-to-the-scene actors, like last year's nominee Jeremy Renner, in a new light. It solidifies their brand as the gold standard of acting and, ideally, box office returns.

The Hollywood Reporter's Stephen Galloway predicts that a win for Portman will put her in the same circle as Reese Witherspoon and allow her to command one of the top salaries in Hollywood.

"For Portman, a best actress victory could propel her into the Reese Witherspoon stratosphere of $10 million-plus a picture, a lot more than the high-six figures she made on the $13 million 'Swan' -- just as Halle Berry's asking price shot up to more than $10 million after her win for 'Monster's Ball,'" Galloway writes in this week's issue of THR. Granted, Portman typically commands a salary in the millions and took a pay cut for 'Black Swan' because it was a passion project.

Her increased price tag will be worth it for whatever project opts to pay it. The Academy Award provides an external validation in the consumer's mind, akin to an FDA stamp of approval. The voters, who are aspirational to start with, offer a similar screening function of sorting through the year's winners and losers albeit without the drastic downside -- if someone sees a crappy movie they won't die.

If Portman wins, from here on out, "Academy Award Winner" will be attached to her name and every project she is associated with, and the entertainment consumer will feel validated buying Portman products.

This nomination alone, and the fact that she has been anointed the chosen front-runner, will no doubt boost Portman's asking price. The issue is how long she plans to take off following the birth of her first child this summer. Her window of opportunity is wide, but it doesn't stay open forever, and the longer she waits after this possible win could diminish her value in the marketplace.

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Tags: natalie Portman

Comments

(18)

Friday 28 January

By oldthudman

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I'm not happy about Portman leaving her close friend Mila hanging out there.......The Academy "snubed" Miss Kunis and Portman should have stood up for her (and spoke out).....

Portman just used her in my estimation.........

And no I don't approve of having children out of wedlock either....

By Ralph Zuccaro

If this Movie, Black Swan, wins anything, Then its about time we add ALL PORNO Movies to the Award shows!!!! But , when certain people, who own and run Hollywood make something like this, 'ITS ART" Its all about making Shekles!!!!

Saturday 29 January

By naobaijin

Hollywood agents and managers estimate their clients get a 20 percent bump in their asking price for the next film they negotiate immediately following an Academy Award win for best actor or best actress.I love reading this , So does My boyfriend .he is almost 11year older than me .i met him via age'lessmate.c'om a nice place for seeking age le ss love.which gives you a chance to make your life better and open opportunities for you to meet the attractive young girls and treat you like a king. Maybe you wanna check it out or tell your friends..

Tuesday 01 February

By Susi

Er... sorry, but NP speaking out would achieve what exactly? They're not going to say "Oh, oops! We better add Mila in then!" That would also be incredibly rude to those actresses who were nominated in the Supporting Actress category. Whilst Mila is probably disappointed, I hardly think she is going to be annoyed at Natalie for not "speaking out" about it, especially since Natalie is the one that suggested Mila for the role in the first place.

High Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

I have tried to leave a post here many times!!! Seems there is a JEWISH GESTAPO who monitors this board, at least when someone is posting notes of Jewish Actors, Producers, and Directors. You, and all Gestapos are not FAIR!!!

Oh Ralph Ralph Ralph... Just because you are sexually repressed and clearly angry as a result, doesn't mean that the rest of us can't watch films that portray the sexual side of human life. It always cracks me up that conservatives like you are fine with horrific violence but a nipple shows and it's the end of the world!

Also, Natalie Portman is not successful because she's Jewish. It is not a Zionist conspiracy, if it was Mel Gibson wouldn't have been so successful. Natalie Portman is successful because she is incredibly beautiful and incredibly talented and gives wonderful and entertaining performances (except in Star Wars). I know that for simple minds like yours it can be hard to grasp, but maybe if you just stick to white supremacist cartoons you'll be happy :) Now run off and play with your guns, I'm sure that will cheer you up!

Cheerio!

By Annia

I don't know if winning an oscar is a good thing. It could be a curse, you know? Look at all those who have won before, i.e, Hillary Swank, Nicole Kidman, Gwynett Paltrow, Sally Fields, Cuba Gooding,Jr., they have not had a block buster movie after winning in a while. Just saying...

By Helen

Neither were they. A pattern? Of course. Zionism.

By R

@oldthudman Kunis was perfectly good in the role, but it wasn't nearly as demanding as Portman's. Shrug. I liked Black Swan a lot, but I didn't feel like Kunis got snubbed. Hers wasn't the performance that really stayed with you.

Low Ranked Vote down Vote up Report this

He wasn't jewish.

By courtney

has it ever occoured to you that some stars that win oscars purposely chose not to capitalize on it for the sake of their family which always trumps award show glory. I.e. Joanne Woodward who won best actress the same year that Red Buttons won best supporting actor which be 1957 given in 1958 but in her case the studio also wanted to lump her in as a ditzy blonde archtype like Marilyn Monroe which is totally opposite of what she is just because Natalie didn't stand up for Mila to be nominated doesn't mean anything maybe Ms Kunis didn't deserve a nomination considering an oscar is the highest honor an actor or film maker can be given if Nat had spoken up or threatend to leave the academy as Woodward did in 1969 when her husband wasn't nominated for best director she would've looked stupid though Ms Woodward didn't follow through with the threat and was nominated two more times for best actress

By tyler

It's not the actor's fault if their fellow actors in that same movie don't get nominated too. That's not how this works. Is Jeremy Renner supposed to do that for Ben Affleck...or Annette Bening for Julianne Moore? It's just the way it is and meanwhile they take the nice acknowledgment and then go back to do their work.

Red Buttons WAS indeed Jewish~~~

So to was Paltrow== Her father was a Jew To

Sunday 30 January

just because Natalie has won every other award doesn't mean she's going to win the oscar. but sometimes just being nominated gets the stars asking price a bump for example had Joanne Woodward taken a paycheck for Rachel Rachel she would've gotten about 250,000 and then after the oscar nomination she received she would've gotten 300k for her cameo in 1970's On A Clear Day You Can See Forever and off course for her lat film on the big screen 1993's Philadelphia she was offered 5.5 million dollars and 10% of the domestic gorss which was 78,000,0000 so 10% was 7.8 million for a total pay out of 13.3 just a bit more than the leads were getting but she refused the money and did it for the artistic merit of the film and a chance to work with Tom Hanks whom she is still friends with now almost 2 decades later

Monday 31 January

By anonymous

Strange there was no such article written about salary boost when Jennifer Hudson and Monique won Sag, Golden Globe and Oscar all three awards on season, difference is Natalie Portman is White and Monique and Hudson is Afraican aAmerican actresses an I guess Natalie will get a salary boost Jennifer is still waiting for hers even to be called for another great movie, 2011 that's hollywood for you still discriminating against people of color, I saw Black Swan why would get Oscar niminated is something else, The Kings Speech Black Swan is a dark strange film, like Inception they advertise and draw you in the miovie theatre for certain films and then you find out it's crap.

Yeah I really want to see both Monique & Jennifer Hudson in many more film roles as they are both immensely talented. Fingers crossed that there are people in Hollywood that see this too and offer them the great roles they deserve. I think Jennifer has a lot of other stuff on her plate right now but I always love to see her. Anyway, there are many people out there who feel the same way, you're not alone! ;)

Hollywood isn't racially against african americans hello the first african american actress to win for Best Supporting actress was Hattie McDaniels in 1940 for Gone With The Wind the first actor of African American decent to win best actor was Sidney Poitier for Lilies In The Field in 1964 not every star that wins an oscar gets a pay raise or accepts it not all films nominated are crap but some of the stars deffinately are there's still one big award show before the Oscars and that is the Baftas on February 13th also Natalie is going to be about 5 months pregnant oscar night or close to 6 so it'll be interesting to see what she decides to wear to the ceremony kind of Like Eva Marie Saint was 9 months pregnant when she won best supporting actress on March 30th 1955

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