Natalie Portman to Play Jackie Kennedy in ‘Jackie’ Biopic

Dang, Natalie Portman, slow down. This week, Portman has lined up roles in a Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic and a new French horror film, and she’s not slowing down. The actress has added another biopic role to her quickly growing to-do list: playing the part of America’s favorite former First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. And when you think about it, that role is kind of perfect for Portman.

THR reports out of Cannes that Portman has signed on to portray Jackie O in Jackie, the new film from Pablo Larrain, the director of the Oscar-nominated Chilean film No. Jackie centers on the first four days of Jackie Kennedy’s life following the tragic death of her husband, President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in Dallas while traveling in a motorcade. That assassination has been the source of fervent speculation and fodder for conspiracy theorists over the last several decades.

Jackie will be produced by someone quite familiar with Portman — Darren Aronofsky, who directed the actress in Black Swan, which earned Portman the Oscar for Best Actress. It doesn’t seem far-fetched to speculate that Portman could very well land an Oscar nomination for portraying the former First Lady in Jackie.

Portman is currently at Cannes, where she will premiere A Tale of Love and Darkness, a film she stars in, wrote and directed, marking her directorial debut. She also appears in the upcoming western drama Jane Got a Gun, which finally hits theaters this fall.