Natalie Portman has been largely out of the spotlight since 2011’s Thor: The Dark World, working on Western Jane Got a Gun, her directorial debut A Tale of Love and Darkness and Terrence Malick’s Knight of Cups. Lately, though, the Black Swan Oscar winner has been making headlines by racking up lead roles in Alex Garland’s Annihilation and Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic On the Basis of Sex. Now, Portman has added another promising project to her schedule in French ghost story Planetarium.
Grand Central director Rebecca Zlotowski will helm the 1930s-set drama, which will also star Lily Rose Depp (daughter of Johnny Depp). Though plot details are being kept mostly under the radar for now, the pic centers on two sisters thought to have the ability to communicate with ghosts.
While performing in Paris, the two cross paths with a visionary French producer, and all three of their paths change in unpredictable ways. Zlotowski co-wrote the film with Robin Campillo, whose film The Returned inspired a Canal Plus drama series and American remake on A&E.
Planetarium will touch on current themes of extremism on the rise throughout Europe, according to Variety.
The project marks Portman’s first time working with a French director, and she’s said to be brushing up on her language skills ahead of a production start this September, with plans to get the film into theaters by May of next year. That’s a pretty accelerated production track, but it will have to be if Portman is to stick with the project. She’s also shooting On the Basis of Sex, a potential awards contender that charts the career of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, this fall ahead of her commitment to Garland’s environmental sci-fi pic Annihilation in early 2016.
Planetarium sounds highly intriguing based on early impressions, and it will be exciting to see Rose Depp, a model who appears in Kevin Smith’s Yoga Hosers, make her dramatic debut as well.
We’ll keep you posted as the project progresses.