Natalie Portman Turns to Mike Nichols for Career and Love Advice  3/13/06

Natalie Portman turns to her Closer director Mike Nichols whenever she struggles to make a career decision or master a movie role.

The actress has adopted the revered movie-maker as a mentor and his advice helped her nail roles in films like V For Vendetta and make decisions like the one that led to her switching agencies.

Nichols even offers her romance tips.

Portman says, "He'll take me out to dinner and be like, 'This guy's not treating you right...' (or), 'You need a new agent.'

"You send him a book, he reads it the next day. You ask him for advice on a script, he reads it and gives you notes on it.

"I call him and I'm like, 'I'm stuck with this character.' He'll spend three hours on the phone with me and give me his thoughts. And he doesn't have anything to do with it... It's not his movie."