Natalie Portman looks sultry in black and white like Chace Crawford for the September issue of Interview. She is currently juggling multiple projects while also promoting her directorial debut in New York, I Love You. Her Brothers costar Jake Gyllenhaal conducted the interview and he got Natalie talking about her love of rap, My Little Ponies, and the optimistic way she views the recession. Here are some highlights:

  • On what song describes her current state: "My current state . . . I’m trying to think of a song that feels like sleepwalking. [laughs] I don’t know. I’ve mostly been listening to dirty rap lately. That’s sort of my scene . . . Really, really obscene hip-hop. I love it so much. It makes me laugh and then it makes me want to dance. Those are like my two favorite things, so combined . . . I’ve been listening a lot lately to 'Wait (The Whisper Song)' by the Ying Yang Twins, where the lyrics are like, 'Wait ’til you see my d*ck' — which is just amazing because it’s whispered. [whispers] 'Wait ’til you see my d*ck . . . ' [laughs] Crazy. So I just listen to it like I’m a five-year-old, like, 'Oh my god! I can’t believe he just said that!'"
  • On what skills she'd put on a job resume: "As far as skills go . . . I don’t have that many skills. [Jake: "Oh come on!"] I’m serious. I really wish I could make something. I mean, you’re a really good cook, you know how to build things — you can make things with your hands. I can’t make anything . . . Well, I can make chitchat, but not much else. I mean, I’d basically have trouble with any job that doesn’t require me to wear silly clothes and talk in funny voices . . . And so I’m an actor."

View 4 Photos ›

To read what Natalie had to say about why the recession might be pushing people to pursue their passions just read more.

  • On the recession: "I think it’s kind of an exciting time. I mean, everyone is cutting back. It’s happening in every industry — including our own. But I think that’s going to translate into a situation where people aren’t motivated by money as much as they have been in the recent past. A lot of my friends from college went into fields like banking for financial reasons — obviously people have school loans and things to pay off. And now, all of a sudden, they’re doing jobs that they hate and they’re not making as much money as they thought they would or they’ve lost their jobs entirely. So I’ve started to see people looking more toward their own passions and what really excites them. Obviously it’s much easier to say that you’re going to follow your passions when you’re financially secure, but at least we can take solace in the fact that we now have the time to pursue the things that we really want to pursue because now the option of doing things just for the money isn’t necessarily there."