JACKIE, a film chronicling the four days in Jacqueline Kennedy’s life after the assassination of her husband President John F. Kennedy, has been in the works for quite some time, and at one point Darren Aronofsky was developing it as a potential directing vehicle. The movie would have starred his then-wife Rachel Weisz as the former First Lady, but that plan was scrapped after they split. A few years ago we learned that Natalie Portman was being eyed to play Jackie…and that was the last we heard of the film.
But apparently production commenced last month with Portman in the titular role and Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larrain (THE CLUB, NO) behind the camera, and now the first look at the actress as Mrs. Kennedy has landed online.
Larrain is making his English-language debut with the biopic, and he's directing from a script from THE MAZE RUNNER and THE DIVERGENT SERIES: ALLEGIANT scribe Noah Oppenheim. Aronofsky is still involved with the film as a producer, and it also stars Peter Sarsgaard as Robert Kennedy, Max Casella as Jack Valenti, Beth Grant as Ladybird Johnson and John Hurt in a currently undisclosed role. No word on when JACKIE will be in theaters, but it will likely have some kind of limited release late next year, just in time for awards season.
Natalie Portman can be seen next starring alongside Ewan McGregor, Joel Edgerton and Noah Emmerich in the Gavin O'Connor-directed Western JANE GOT A GUN, which is due out on January 29, 2016.