Last night, Natalie Portman appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman to plug her new Oscar contender, Black Swan. Over the course of the conversation, Letterman managed to completely embarrass Portman with his constant assertions that Portman is a shoo-in for Best Actress. But after some research, we discovered that Portman, a frequent guest in the Letterman hot-seat, has a way of tickling the talk show host's playfully flirtatious side.
Here's a clip of Portman's first-ever appearance on Late Night in 1994 promoting The Professional. What's interesting is that this interview is the complete opposite from the one yesterday. Yesterday, Portman discussed how she has enjoyed attending the multiple Black Swan screenings because of the audience reaction. Quite the difference with this story of how she fell asleep during her fifth viewing of The Professional. Letterman then takes her to task for her impression of the film's director, Luc Besson.
In this 1996 clip promoting Beautiful Girls (with Alec Baldwin for some reason) Letterman openly admits the he is very fond of Portman and is quite happy when she's on the show. Letterman then gets himself into a passive-aggressive battle of words with Alec Baldwin about their current salaries -- with a 14-year-old Portman sitting right in the middle. For an added bonus, scoot along to the 4:40 mark to when Dave asks Portman about watching the movie Threesome, which stars Baldwin's brother Stephen.
Portman came back to the Late Show in 1999 to talk about a little indie project that she was working on called Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace. After about 10 seconds talking about Star Wars, Letterman pretty much begs Portman to ask him to prom, then follows it up with a Hummer joke.
Portman was back on Letterman in 2004 to promote Garden State. Letterman starts the interview by showing a photo of her first appearance -- which Portman incorrectly identifies as her promoting Beautiful Girls. Letterman then immediately asks Portman is she's married.
I'm starting to sense a theme here. Every time Portman makes an appearance on Letterman, after telling her she looks tremendous, he opens by talking about how young she was on her first visit. This 2008 visit was highlighted by Letterman explaining to Portman that when he pulls the curtain to vote, he takes off his pants.