Unlike the house plant Natalie Portman planted in the soil at the end of "The Professional," a sequel to that 1994 action flick has utterly failed to take root.

Years have passed, director Luc Besson has gone on record as refusing to helm a second installment, and nothing seems likely to change. Portman herself told us recently that she's even declined to read the script.

"I have never read it because Luc won't direct it himself, and so I'm only interested if he [directs]," she said while at the Toronto Film Festival promoting "Black Swan."

That being said, she'd eagerly return to "Professional" territory — reprising her role as the orphaned Mathilda — if Besson somehow changed his mind.

"I told him if he would do it himself, I would do it in two seconds," Portman said. "But he won't, so…"