LUCY IN THE SKY

LUCY IN THE SKY I portman’s astronaut has an existential crisis in noah Hawley’s space drama…

Natalie Portman comes back to Earth with a bump.

It was absolutely my fantasy as a kid,” says Natalie Portman of becoming an astronaut. “Growing up, I was in the generation of Sally Ride [the first American woman in space]. It was the coolest thing. We talked about it in school and it was absolutely a dream for me.” That dream comes true (sort of) in Lucy In The Sky, where Portman plays Lucy Cola, a Nasa astronaut who finds that her life on Earth just doesn’t feel the same after she has viewed the planet from among the stars.

Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival last month, Lucy In The Sky is a fictional story, very loosely based on the life of real astronaut Lisa Nowak. Lucy’s newfound dissatisfaction with her life sees her having an affair with a fellow astronaut (Jon Hamm) before things veer into darker territory. “This is based on a real story – but it’s quite different to the story that inspired it,” explains Portman. “Of course, I read about it, but the character is really, really different and a lot of the elements of her background and where the character goes are quite different.”

As Portman goes on to add, Nowak’s story was the “taking-off point” that inspired the central crux of the film. “We didn’t want to ever try to claim that this was based on her,” she says. “It was inspired by that story – just to understand that someone so high-performing could have such a difficult time. It made us think why would someone who has that kind of level of intellect and success have such a difficult moment?”

Lucy is the feature debut of Noah Hawley, the Fargo and Legion showrunner, who told Portman to watch seminal ’80s space drama The Right Stuff as part of her prep, to get a sense of the extreme competitiveness of the astronauts. But while the arrogance and cockiness of those guys is often brushed off as ‘boys will be boys’ behaviour, it’s a different story for women.

“It felt like a new way to portray a new kind of character I wasn’t used to seeing before for a female,” says Portman. “But it’s still complicated. Even watching it myself, I don’t know if I’m comfortable with it.”

While the film got mixed reviews upon its festival debut, there’s no denying Portman’s commitment to an intense and demanding role. “I think it’s really exciting to play this kind of character because I don’t think we get to see women on screen dealing with existential crises very often,” Portman continues. “She’s not all good or all bad, she’s not a villain, she’s a complicated person and you have to stay with that.”

ETA | 6 DECEMBER / LUCY IN THE SKY OPENS LATER THIS YEAR.

‘It felt lIke a new way to portray a new kInd of character I wasn’t used to seeIng before for a female’ natalie portman