Pablo Larráin’s Jackie may be obvious Oscar-bait, but from the trailer it looks set to be stylish and genuinely compelling. The film stars Natalie Portman as Jackie Kennedy and focuses on the days following beloved president John F. Kennedy’s assassination. The Costume and Make-up departments have done a commendable job of turning Portman into a dead ringer for Jackie Kennedy and the actress has developed a very convincing accent for the role. Producer Darren Aronofsky and Portman have proved a winning combination before with Black Swan in 2011 for which Ms. Portman won Best Performance by a Leading Actress and Aronofsky was nominated for Best Achievement in Directing. It will be interesting to see how Jackie fares this awards season.
The trailer is held together with lines of dialogue from Mrs Kennedy’s famous interview with family-friend and journalist Theodore White. White was a respected journalist who covered the 1960 campaign, portraying candidate Kennedy favourably, which is probably why Jackie reached out to him for an exclusive interview. She told the journalist that the couple were fond of Broadway Musical Camelot and they would often listen to the title song before bed. Her husband loved the final couplet of the song “Don’t ever let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment that was Camelot.” Jackie encapsulated her feelings with the iconic phrase “There will be great presidents again, but there will never be another Camelot.” Jackie seems as though it will focus on this interview, hopefully the film won’t concentrate too much on the journalism side and fall into the same dull trap that befell Frost/Nixon.
Check out the trailer.