Natalie Portman has been busy this week, returning for several projects and pushing her directorial debut on the festival circuit. Now, she is re-teaming with Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky (who is producing) to play Jacqueline Kennedy in the new film, Jackie. The film will focus on Jackie’s four days following the assassination of her husband, President John Kennedy, in 1963.
While Aronofsky is producing, Variety has reported Pablo Larrain will direct. Larrain is relatively unknown Stateside, with the Gael García Bernal drama No being the most widely recognizable film.
The story of Jackie Kennedy, who was in the limo on that fateful November day in Dallas, is not a story that is told as often as the conspiracy and the events surrounding the fallen Commander in Chief. A brief synopsis from The Playlist says “The script [by Noah Oppenheim] follows Jackie Kennedy during the four days between her husband’s infamous assassination and his burial… The First Lady [is] caught up in the wrangling between the Kennedy camp and Lyndon Johnson’s crew who are eager to obtain leadership, and move into the White House as soon as possible.”
Portman’s last collaboration with Aronofsky, the excellent 2010 thriller Black Swan, earned Portman a Best Actress statue at the Academy Awards. Aside from Jackie, Portman has also been in talks to join Alex Garland’s adaptation of Annihilation, and is making her directorial debut this season with A Tale of Love and Darkness. If that weren’t enough, the star will appear alongside Christian Bale in Terrence Malick’s Knight of Cups later this year, and the long gestating western, Jane Got a Gun.
As for Aronofsky, aside from this producing gig his schedule remains open.
There is no release date or further casting notes for Jackie at this time.
