MovieChat Forums > Mars Attacks! (1996) Discussion > Taffy (Natalie Portman) is wasted.

Taffy (Natalie Portman) is wasted.

posted 12 years ago by sph1984
11 replies | jump to latest

As I re-watched this - having not seen it in over a decade - I realized that Natalie Portman's "Taffy" just disappears! What the hell was that? When they're all running away, the last we see of her is what looks like a plan to do something but the next time we see her is after the destruction and presenting Lucas Haas some medals! Did I somehow watch an edited version?

P.S. Also, noticed how very much Taffy is a retread of Lydia Deetz from Beetlejuice, just more 90s suited.

[–] xfastfurious15 12 years ago

OMG true she just dissapears as if she had something important to do. Maybe it was in the special features.

[–] Darwinskid 12 years ago

Three of my best guesses-

1. She got saved by some security guard and placed in a bunker till the alien invasion started to die down.

2. It is a satire on disaster movies where a character just randomly disappears then reappears as if nothing happened.

And (probably the most likely case scenario)3. Tim Burton just didn't know what to do with the character and had enough trouble trying to juggle all those other characters around.

Either way I agree that Portman was wasted in this, you could cut all her scenes out and the movie would be no different. And yeah she does seem like a retread of Lydia from Beetlejuice, the only difference is is that she's not goth, she's more pre-occupied and either doesn't get enough attention or gets too much as it is.

...Doh!

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] PhoenixPhuck 12 years ago

She could have easily had more scenes that were simply left on the cutting room floor...with an ensemble cast this big, it's not very rare for some roles to be drastically cut.

Even the most primitive society has an innate respect for the insane.

[–] Mississippi20 11 years ago

Given that the film was rewritten several times to reduce the budget and that the story is paper thin.....I wouldn't be surprised if an idea was dropped due to time or budget restraints.

The ending is fairly odd in that it happens pretty quickly. We're in a middle of a huge action sequence of alien destruction, we find out music explodes their brains, and then boom it's over.

The film is well worth watching for those who have a quirky sense of humor.....there's plenty of hilarious (and morbid) jokes in the film. I like it because its the kind of dry, outrageous humor you just never see in a Hollywood production,

Portmans role isn't a waste, it's just not a big role.....,she has at least one very funny line I can think if off the top of my head: her dry delivery of "well I guess it wasn't the doves" while everyone's getting massacred on tv is great.

[–] gcronau 11 years ago

>> The ending is fairly odd in that it happens pretty quickly.
>> We're in a middle of a huge action sequence of alien
>> destruction, we find out music explodes their brains, and
>> then boom it's over.

I'm fairly sure that's meant to be an homage/sendup of _War of the Worlds_.

Everything's going to hell, and then poof!, the dues ex machina falls from the sky(literally) and all the Martians are dead.

[–] cathy-creswell 10 years ago

I agree about the doves line. She was the only sensible person in the White House!

[–] Wombstar 11 years ago

Portman was pretty much unknown back then too.

[–] jaynekranc 11 years ago

It was not a very important part, in the grand scheme of things, and she wasn't a very well known actress at the time.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] Dan_Garten 10 years ago

This was the first movie I had seen her in.