First Lady

Her mesmerising performance in political biopic jackie has put her into the academy awards race, but there’s more to natalie portman than hollywood success. Here, she talks family, presidents and why she’s proud to be an activist.

- Mickey Rapkin 

The mood in Los Angeles is…strange. Traffic is light. Voices are low. This is an unlikely morning to meet anyone for the first time, let alone Natalie Portman, and I’m not surprised when she tells me she tried to cancel. It’s two days after Donald Trump is named president-elect of the US and she’s straining to describe the feeling in town today. ‘Someone said to me that it felt like it had snowed in LA.’ I don’t ask who she voted for, but I have a pretty good guess – she’s just finished a hike with a girlfriend whose tank top reads: ‘The future is female.’

It’s fitting that we’re meeting to talk about Jackie – a stirring, poignant film about Jackie Kennedy set in the week following JFK’s assassination – because at its core, this is the story of a nation mourning a dream. Directed by Chilean Pablo Larrain, Jackie premiered to standing ovations at the Venice Film Festival, catapulting its star into the Academy Awards race. While Natalie certainly looks and sounds the part, what’s so remarkable about her performance is its humanity.

Jackie revolves around an interview the First Lady gave with a reporter for Life magazine one week after her husband’s death. In a clip that will surely be played at every awards show, ‘Jackie’ gives a moment-by-moment account of the assassination, revealing details like how beautiful Jack’s eyes and mouth looked even as he slumped over into her lap. As Jackie, Natalie pauses to light a cigarette, regaining her composure as she coolly stares down the reporter, commanding: ‘Don’t think for one second I’m going to let you publish that.’