Earlier this year, Natalie Portman scored two big roles in a row, playing real-life women. She’s apparently going to play a young Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and she’s already filming a miniseries/film about Jackie Kennedy called (obviously) Jackie. This is the first production still from the film (note: this was originally supposed to be a miniseries, but now it’s going to be a film). What do you think? Does Natalie Portman look at all like Jackie Kennedy? No. She doesn’t. Jackie never seemed like a little girl in a bad wig, which is what Natalie looks like here. Jackie was never child-like, you know?
This Jackie movie took forever to put together – the script was on the Blacklist for a while, and various directors and stars came in and out of the project. At one point, Darren Aronofsky was going to direct it and it was going to star his then-partner Rachel Weisz. Now Aronofsky is producing and it’s being directed by Pablo Larrain. It’s being filmed in Paris? Which is weird. The film is supposed to be about Jackie’s life in the immediate aftermath of JFK’s assassination. The film also stars Peter Sarsgaard and Greta Gerwig.
Meanwhile, speaking of stupid casting decisions, the trailer for Jane Got A Gun was released a week ago. This production was an utter clusterwhoops, with directors and cast fleeing the film in droves. Natalie was a producer on it and word was that she’s a terrible producer. As for the trailer… I honestly didn’t even recognize Ewan McGregor! This movie looks so stupid.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
She looks like Natalie Portman dressed as Jackie.
She’s way too pretty to play Jackie. Jackie was no looker.
Also, why is she getting a biopic? Apart from dressing nice and marrying rich, did she do anything significant?
Jackie was quite pretty when she married JFK and was First Lady.
I guess she aged a little weird, but I figure the assassination of your husband and then your brother-in-law will probably do that to you.
I wasn’t alive when Jackie was First Lady, but in all of the documentaries the commentators mention her strength in carrying the nation through its grief after JFK was assassinated. And she was very private and never sold out her husband for a memoir or series of interviews that could have paid well, despite whatever animosity she might have held towards him for cheating on her — much different from the Kardashians of today. I’m not saying she didn’t have other flaws, but I do think that particular trait of maintaining her silence about what really went on in her marriage, the aftermath of the assassination, and her later life, despite whatever the media was saying about her, was kind of admirable. That kind of reticence in the spotlight takes a lot of self-control.
I never thought Jackie was pretty even when she was younger.
I LOVE that outfit though, its divine. I want it!
I don’t admire Jackie for pretending not to see what JFK was doing or being silent about it.
She basically was playing a good Catholic with of the time, urghh. There was a story that made rounds a month ago that right before marrying Jackie JFK was on a romantic trip with a lover from Sweden (?) and apparently he pursued her for years.
I really don’t see where Jackie fit in that picture. He used her as a broodmare and that is it. Nothing to be proud of for either of them.
I respectfully disagree. I feel that Jackie Kennedy was a beautiful lady. A natural beauty for sure. She hardly wore make up and probably never had plastic surgery.
I’d bet that Natalie Portman has had work done on her face (nose). She is very pretty but does not look like Jackie Kennedy. Jeanne Triplehorn (in her younger days) would have made a fantastic Jackie Kennedy .
http://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=17323
“I don’t admire Jackie for pretending not to see what JFK was doing or being silent about it.”
I meant silence in terms of being private about her entire life, including what she felt about when she saw her husband assassinated in front of her, the years afterwards dealing with life as a widow, and her inner psychology. She could have easily done interview after interview and been famous for being famous (which she kind of was anyway), but I like that she wasn’t a Kardashian about it. I didn’t necessarily mean silence in terms of being a silent, good wife who put up with her husband’s infidelity — I just think she had a certain dignity about her in terms of dealing with life like a regular non-famous person would. Who knows what she was like in private — she could have been a temperamental nightmare or she could have been on tranquilizers all day or she could have been acting up in other weird ways. Who knows? Nobody will ever really know because she wasn’t talking about herself to the media all the time. She went about her business in the public glare without sharing every aspect of her life like the Kardashians or one of those Beverly Hills housewives, or, uh, Leann Rimes. I just like the fact that she kept some part of her inner self to herself — who knows what her reasons for doing so were (maybe they were for her own personal benefit), but I like that she did it, because that quality is really rare among famous people (the rest generally seem to feed on a narcissistic obsession with expecting people to be concerned with their every move. So many famous people incessantly talk about themselves, and she never did that. She continued to live her life in private, and let the media do their gossiping, and didn’t fall into the trap of believing that the rest of the world was worrying about her every move, and as such, we never saw her bawling her eyes out on Oprah or with Barbara Walters).
Jackie O had unusual looks, not classic but striking and memorable. I’m not a fan of the “good wife” styling, but she had an aristocratic bearing, no doubt and will be remembered as an American stunner.
Exactly–she looks like herself in costume as Jackie. Look at her posture in that pic, all slumpy and unconfidently grasping her own fingers. Jackie was the epitome of quiet, confident elegance.
THIS
Nope.
She looks great in the clothes, but doesn’t look a thing like Jackie IMO.
Jackie had a broad face and very wide spaced eyes. Her nose was shorter too. A literal doll face. Katie Holmes looked more like her than Portman.
Here’s Jackie same era – same suit.
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1397166/thumbs/o-JACKIE-KENNEDY-570.jpg?8
Also, there should be no portman ‘cryface’ in this series, Jackie never gave anyone the satisfaction, so I hope Portman put the snotty tears on ice.
Jackie’s voice was also one of a kind. Breathy like Marilyn’s, but deeper. Wonder what Nat will do with that.
I think Natalie is prettier, Jackie had funny teeth, but she was attractive and dressed well. I think Natalie will do a good job, she has that class about her to portray Jackie.
No, they have the hair and outfit right, but no, she doesn’t look like Jackie.
Her smug face just… annoys me.
She’s much better looking than Jackie.
I think Natalie is technically prettier, but Jackie had more….gravitas?
@cubfan34
Make no mistake, they’re both in the ‘beautiful,’ category ( even without Portman’s nose job) – so it’s kind of silly to say who’s more beautiful…
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/criminalminds/images/7/7b/Jackie_Kennedy.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140515013142
In my opinion, Portman isn’t up to her level, and a lot of it has to do with Portman’s utter lack of charisma.
I dont’ think I can watch Natalie Portman as Jackie. I swear, if there is even one scene of her as Jackie with her Natalie Portman arms out to the side like some body builder whose muscles are so big he can’t let his arms just hang at his side like anybody else, I’m going to……just not watch it, I guess. Portman has a very distinctive walk and alot of it has to do with her arms. She does it in every single role she plays. Just like KStew can’t close her lips to save herself and ScarJo can’t stop sucking in her stomach and sticking her boobs out. It ruins their portrayals of any character because all I see is them being themselves.
The hardest part for Portman will be to exude warmth. Jackie was warm, welcoming, non-threatening. She strikes me as a huggy person. Portman is actually cool and aloof. She isn’t physically inviting. I actually like her in some of her movies, but she does not exude warmth and I doubt she can muster it up for a role. That’s something sort of intrinsic – unable to fake.
NOPE
I would have preferred to see Rachel Weisz in the Jackie role. For me, Natalie Portman is one of those actors who look good on paper but it doesn’t translate. (I hope that makes sense.)
You know who could have played all hell out of a Jackie role? Bellamy Young
( first lady Mellie Grant) from Scandal. Lol
http://media.melty.com/pmedia-1141-ajust_640/mellie-has-never-hid-her-desire-to-follow.jpg
Agree about Bellamy Young! Portman has had some good roles that had potential but she doesn’t shine. With her resume, I’d expect more memorable performances. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Yikes. The wig 🙁 makes it look like a Lifetime movie.
It’s atrocious. Oh, and she looks NOTHING like Jackie. Very bad choice.
This is going to be such a disaster. Portman is an OK actress if she is a good fit for a role, but this is not it.
Plus, who wants another movie about Jackie?
Jackie was a very damaged person in my view. All pretty and proper outside and a house of horrors on the inside.
If they truly could show it , it would be interesting, but even then Portman is not the right person to do it, neither is Rachel.
I think Lizzy Olsen has the right personality to play Jackie.
Diana and Jackie — I don’t think I’ve ever seen any actress do a good job on either of those two bio-pic “characters.”
Catherine Oxenberg did a good job as Diana.
It’s just one pic. Remember how everyone was losing their mind when Fassbender was cast as Steve Jobs? And then I saw the film and was surprised how much it didn’t matter that there was no resemblance. But he is, frankly, a better actor than Portman. She’s not bad but she’s always Natalie Portman. Much like De Niro. Only he can sell it.
My impression is that because he doesn’t look anything like Jobs the promotion was much more difficult. Many people simply didn’t connect the dots seeing him on the posters. And some were dead set against the movie because of how little he resembles Jobs. And what is more it doesn’t look like they tried to make him look like Jobs. They could’ve died his hair black at least.
I think it mattered advertising/ promotion wise.
Could be but putting marketing aside, it really didn’t matter to me watching the film. He was excellent.
Aw, I kinda wish that Jane Got A Gun looked better.
I don’t think Natalie Portman looks like she belongs in that time, so that’s throwing me off. She also does sometimes seem ‘better on paper’ as Hawkeye said above. She’s a great actress but she’s not great in every role (like Jennifer Lawrence, usually I just see the actress as their character, not the character themselves, if that makes sense)
But the idea of a badass woman protecting herself and her kid in the west, that’s a cool concept…maybe the trailer is just poorly edited though. Seems like it’ll be watchable, not re-watchable, but not a disaster.
also, I’m a sucker for McGregor in every way, so that might be my crush talking 😉
I actually think it looks decent! I kind of want to see it now, and I always eyeroll when I see her on screen because she’s an awful actress (to me). I think the story is interesting and something that actually happened…and instead of being a victim, she’s taking care of things. It looks like they tried to make it appeal to more people by making it a little action-y, but if it comes to my theater, I’m going to watch it. If anything, it’s an escape movie that I would enjoy.
She looks like a little girl playing dress up.
She looks like that in every movie she is in.
lol, no, not at all.
Not just the face….Jackie was tall and more commanding looking.
In that photo, she has none of Jackie’s poise and confidence. Her posture and bearing are all wrong.
Yes to you both. Jackie could look delicate, but, except for at JFK’s funeral, she never looked vulnerable or childlike. She had a confidence and style that I envy. She wasn’t a perfect person, but she had loads of charisma, imo.
I’m probably going to cyber kicked for this, but……Katie Holmes looked more like Jackie in the Reels series…I know. I know. Don’t hurt me.
Haha, I said the same thing up thread.
JJ: You nailed it. She never occurred to me, but she very much resembles Jackie O. Problem is…..can she act?
She only looked more like Jackie O. Her acting was a bit wooden and her accent was all over the place.
JFK would never have gone for her. He seemed to like the va va voom girls and she appears to be more the Smell Me Princess Grace type. He had his secret drinking prim rose in Jackie O, She never could have made a John John. I think Ms. Natalie peaked out in Black Swan, which I hated btw.
@Nancy
JFK actually dated Grace Kelly.
And quite a few of his girlfriends and mistresses, were Miss Porter, prim and proper, to-the-manor-born types.
Something about Natalie just irks the hell out of me, it started with her Oscar campaign and lying about doing most of the ballet work in “Black Swan”. I haven’t liked her since, she comes off so smug, or something.
Yep. Smug.
She’s actually all right for a HW A lister. Most of them are much more arrogant. I think it’s also the fact that she’s female and built like a little doll that she feels she has to get more out there and be more assertive. I watched her Harvard (commencement?) speech. She seems very confident with a teeny dose of arrogance but mostly sweet and personable and genuine. She’s not a great actress in most roles though and Black Swan was so overrated. Darren Aronofsky has a monopoly on the male gaze and pseudo-avant-gardeism or whatever you call it. I thought Black Swan was misogynistic. And the ballet dancing PR for the Oscar campaign was very rude to the real dancers and of course misleading to the public.
Not even close. Jackie had such a unique style and mannerisms which will be hard to emulate. Further, any actress trying to use Jackie’s voice, the soft whisper purr will be extremely difficult even with training. Maybe I’m wrong, but Natalie doesn’t seem like a good choice.
The voice shouldn’t be hard to do. Just do a Marilyn Monroe impression. They sounded the same.
Yet I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody do a good Jackie impression. Jacqueline Bissett played Jackie twice, and both times she was pretty bad. The clips are somewhere up on Youtube…the performance in the JFK Jr. movie was really, really stinky. The voice impression was especially weird.
to me she looks like caitlyn jenner.
This absolutely. And no, we don’t need another film about Jackie unless it was a real warts and all piece telling the truth about the relationship between Jackie and the Kennedys, now that I would watch.
Are you kidding me? She is not more beautiful than Jackie. Jackie was all time. Natalie Portman has a beautiful face but she looks like a child, and she is not a very good actress. Jackie was gorgeous, smart, and one of the classiest people ever. She is beyond compare.
Agree. Jackie had a unique beauty and impeccable style. I don’t think any actress ould capture it without looking like a caricature or a girl playing dress-up .
I know, I can’t believe people are basically calling her ugly. Her beauty was unique, and it came from her looks, but also her style and confidence. I thought she was beautiful. I think people are less accepting of unusual beauty now maybe, since so much plastic surgery is getting everyone to look alike.
I was too surprised when people said Jackie wasn’t as good looking as Natalie Portman. I thought she was considered an amazing beauty at the time. But maybe it is just my impression after all the romanticizing of the American Camelot in the media. The real truth about the Kennedy’s clan only started coming out last 10-15 years.
I still consider her a rare beauty. Natalie is very beautiful too but not as striking. Jackie was striking.
But the real issue is that Natalie comes across as vulnerable and Jackie was more like a Nordic warrior goddess in her demeanor , resourceful and powerful.
Poor choice and a bad actress. I could see Jessica Chastain pulling this off.
jeez ppl have some intense feelings about natalie portman lol i’ve never been a huge fan but now i’m kinda hoping she kills it in this role lol.
Natalie does look like a child, not sure I’ll be able to get past that.
I will say that everyone thought Michelle Williams was a terrible choice for Marilyn Monroe, but she crushed it.
Natalie’s got a limited range but she can be very good in some films. She looks okay in this but she’s so petite she can’t express that physicality that the role seems to need. Looks like a typical western thingy except the woman’s holding the gun. Lord, Ewen’s moustache is sooooo creepy.
The Jackie film looks stupid. All those Jackie stories reduce her to a “lady” and focus on her dignity etc etc. Actually, she and JFK were very good friends and intellectual equals. She was extremely well read and very witty and sharp in private. I feel those biopics of her always made a big deal of her style and resilience but didn’t really draw out her worldliness and intellectual sophistication.
I don’t think it matters if she looks like Jackie or not, she is an actor and not an impersonator.
So what? Katie Holmes never looked like Jackie. This is what actresses do – they dress up like other people. They are not those people.
WhOa!!! Natalie looks a lot like Michelle Dockery from Downton in the pic as Jackie…
YES!! I knew she reminded me of someone.