|
"Jackie" opens in U.S. movie theaters on Friday and Reuters
spoke recently with actress Natalie Portman about her critically
acclaimed performance. Following are edited excerpts.
Q: What was your perception of Jacqueline Kennedy before this
film?
A: I didn't really have much knowledge about her at all. I
really was very much, like most people, familiar with her
through the image.
Q: Which of her many facets was the most challenging to capture?
A: Recreating the assassination. You have so much liberty when
you don't really know what happened. When she is talking to the
priest or her best friend, or to Bobby (Kennedy) you are free to
play. But the assassination is so unimaginable and the Zapruder
film (of the assassination) is so iconic that it felt very scary
to do something that extreme emotionally which is constricted by
reality.
Q: You did a lot of research. What was the most helpful?
A: Her 1962 White House tour for TV was very helpful. We
recreated that exactly, shot for shot. I learned how to be exact
to her cadences, and where she takes a pause, and also the
accent. She did a whole series of interviews with historian
Arthur Schlesinger to help define the (Kennedy) legacy.
Q: Was the Kennedy family involved in this movie?
A: No. I think we have all the respect in the world for them and
I can only imagine that it is painful.
Q: What do you hope audiences will take away from the film?
A: That's the beautiful thing of the film that (Chilean
director) Pablo Larrain has made - it's not prescribing what you
should think. You're seeing many different sides of a
complicated woman. You see her strength and her vulnerability,
her moments of being wild, her moments of being very controlled,
her responsibility and her impulsiveness.
Q: Did you like her?
A: I think you can't judge your character when you play her, or
else you wouldn't be able to. Now, having come to the other
side, I love her. I have so much admiration for her and how she
overcame this unbelievable tragedy and made a life that was
really influential.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bill Trott)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
|
|
