Natalie’s not really an adult yet, but she’s getting closer

In the new relationship drama “Closer,” Natalie Portman, whose poise and talent often makes her seem older than her years, has finally come into her own as an adult actress.

Based on the award-winning play by Patrick Marber, “Closer” revolves around the lives of four strangers who meet, love, betray and ultimately ruin each other while seeking intimacy.

Despite playing a stripper in the film, the 23-year-old “Star Wars” actress insists that she doesn’t feel fully mature.

“I don’t really feel like an adult yet myself, so I don’t really think I can play adults,” Portman explains. “I think it’s always a proportion, adult to child within you, and even when you’re 85 you’re still going to have that proportion. It changes with mood and with time. It’s an arbitrary distinction between adult and child.”

Director Mike Nichols, who previously worked with Portman for a stage production of “The Seagull,” specifically wanted this curious mix of youth and sophistication for the role of Alice.

“I wanted to start with a beautiful young girl, so adorable that Audrey Hepburn would worry … And then (later in the film) Natalie comes back and she’s increased,” says Nichols.

Alice changes over the course of several years in the film, beginning as a charismatic, pixielike waif who captures the attention of obituaries journalist Dan (played by Jude Law). After experiencing a bitter betrayal, she becomes wiser and jaded yet still keeps an intriguing, untouchable aura about her.

Portman maintains her mystery when it comes to nudity as well. For the strip club scene, she agreed to let the film roll while she bared herself but later decided against using the two-second shot.

“I didn’t think it was crucial to the scene. I thought it was distracting, if anything, to have it at the head of the scene,” she says.

Nichols agreed to the cut – a decision that must have pleased Marber, who deliberately kept all of his characters clothed (albeit scantily at times) for the stage version.

“It’s very important to me that there’s no nudity in the play because it’s all about words and the words we use,” he explains. “I wanted the audience to always feel like they’d seen all this sex, but they haven’t seen a damn thing, if that makes any sense at all.”

Portman still ratchets up the eroticism with her strip club scenes, for which she took pole-dancing lessons – which she describes as “physically very demanding, a combination of dance and acrobatics.”

Having taken dance lessons since the age of 4, she performs an effortless split in the film. “I’m extraordinarily flexible,” she says matter-of-factly.

And despite the role, she isn’t worried about becoming a sex symbol.

“I’m not scared. I’m brave,” she says. “I’m not doing things to prove anything, that I’m like or unlike what other people think of me. That makes me comfortable with whatever people walk away with.”

The birthday bunch

Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck is 84. Actress JoBeth Williams is 56. Actor Tom Hulce is 51. Comedian Steven Wright is 49. Guitarist Peter Buck (R.E.M.) is 48. Actress Janine Turner (“Strong Medicine,” “Northern Exposure”) is 42.