NYFF: Jackie, Natalie, Peter and Pablo
Friday, October 14, 2016 at 7:00PM Murtada reporting from NYFF.
Thursday night marked the first New York public screening of Jackie. Pablo Larraín’s film about the former first lady in the few days after JFK’s assassination, took Venice and TIFF by storm and now it's NYFF’s turn...
Among those who attended the screening were Larraín, producer Darren Aronofsky, Natalie Portman who is topping many Oscar best actress charts and co-star Peter Sarsgaard who plays Bobby Kennedy. Natalie's Oscar buzz is well earned but more impressive was Larrain’s filmmaking; it’s so precise I felt like he was sticking in a knife right through my heart.
In the post screening Q and A there was a lot of talk about accents, Natalie’s of course but also Sarsgaard’s. Both actors said that nailing the voice was their entry into the parts. Portman worked with a dialect coach and listened to the White House Tour - which is recreated in the film - over and over. She was mindful to give her Jackie both a private and public voice as she found out in her research that Jackie sounded different depending on the forum. On the first day of shooting Larraín was so taken aback that he told her it was too much. Now he says Portman actually didn’t go all the way because if she had replicated the accent 100%, it would have been hard to connect with the character. The biggest laugh came when Larrain imitated Sarsgaard saying “Jackie” as Bobby, which he revealed is his ringtone.
The film’s score is also a highlight. Larraín first heard Mica Levi’s work while serving on the Venice Film Festival jury in 2013, where Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin competed. While many on that jury didn't like Skin, Larraín, along with fellow juror composer Ryuichi Sakamoto (The Revenant) tried to award Levi for her work, to no avail.
The conversation ended with Larraín stating that making a movie so focused on one actor, is a risk that demands a lot of generosity from the rest of the cast. The hardest part for him was not making a movie in English for the first time, but rather making a movie from a woman’s POV as all his previous movies had male protagonists.
Jackie opens in limited release on December 9th. Here's Nathaniel's review if you missed it.
Reader Comments (8)
It's nice she reconnected with the father of her baby, Darren. I am not into her hype. New winners and the best actress please.
I'm really intrigued by all of the reviews that I've read and heard that say the film really soars due to Larraín's direction and a number of the creative choices he employs, including an unconventional score... Also intrigued to see Portman in a big juicy role again. Black Swan was my Best Picture of 2010 and she was a big part of that.
Also: Man, that Pablo Larraín is a handsome dude! It'll be nice to have some extra eye candy around this awards season, amiright?
Portman, similar to Dunst or Knightly, always has a bunch of haters hoping she'll fail. All three regularly get people saying that they are bad actresses which is so odd given how many great performances they have given.
Who cares about her filmography, if she soars in one film every 5 years, given the heights that she soars to, I'll take it and be joyful!
huh - To be fair, most of her performances are bad. But her highs are really high. I'll give you that.
What is the point of demeaning a woman by using lies about her sex life (smearing one of our best directors in the process)? That's just revolting.
Reading these threads about Natalie Portman becomes more and more disappointing each time they're posted.
Natalie only gets Oscar buzz when she's pregnant. Interesting...
I wonder who the father is for this new one.
That last comment is interesting. I wonder what the director thought he had to do differently due to the female POV?