@theburbs said: Weird, I just watched a few clips of Jackie talking on YouTube, and her voice doesn't seem that unusual to me? Maybe her "accent" was more subtle in real life and Natalie Portman was doing an exaggerated version.

It all depends. Which clip did you watch (from when)?

@SWLinPHX said:

@jenx42 said: I'm with you there! I wasn't born when JFK was president but I knew what she sounded like before I watched this film. And not because of a particular interest in her. My problem actually was with the guy who played Bobby. He would just go in and out of the Boston accent. Most times out! I thought Portman gave a very heartbreaking performance personally. I didn't know this film was really going to be more of a portrait of grief than anything else and I was really impressed with her.

I do think it's interesting how such a renowned woman with such mass public interest managed not to give any kind of TV or magazine interview for the next 31 years she lived, despite being in the news a lot.

Did you ever see "A Woman Named Jackie"? It received the Emmy for Best Miniseries in 1991.

Yeah, it trips me out when someone remains, ostensibly a public figure while not being public at all. I don't think I saw that mini series but I'll look it up. I might have just forgotten. I forgot what I had for lunch yesterday.

@SWLinPHX said:

@jenx42 said: I'm with you there! I wasn't born when JFK was president but I knew what she sounded like before I watched this film. And not because of a particular interest in her. My problem actually was with the guy who played Bobby. He would just go in and out of the Boston accent. Most times out! I thought Portman gave a very heartbreaking performance personally. I didn't know this film was really going to be more of a portrait of grief than anything else and I was really impressed with her.

I do think it's interesting how such a renowned woman with such mass public interest managed not to give any kind of TV or magazine interview for the next 31 years she lived, despite being in the news a lot.

Did you ever see "A Woman Named Jackie"? It received the Emmy for Best Miniseries in 1991.

I found it on You Tube and it's not even horrible quality! I don't think I've ever seen Roma Downy in anything but Touched By An Angle.

@jenx42 said: I found it on You Tube and it's not even horrible quality! I don't think I've ever seen Roma Downy in anything but Touched By An Angle.

Yeah, out of all the movies made either about her or portraying her it is THE only one to encompass her entire life up to that moment: young girl in dysfunctional household, debutante, young wife, First Lady, grieving widow, jet-setter "Jackie O", rich widow (again), book publisher & NYC socialite and grandma.

I understand why she didn't but I would have loved if she'd given Barbara Walters (a friend and contemporary) an interview. Can you imagine all they could have covered?? Also, she has ordered all her private memoirs to be sealed until 100 years after her death, as well as her famous pink Chanel assassination outfit sealed and preserved until then.

@SWLinPHX said:

@theburbs said: Weird, I just watched a few clips of Jackie talking on YouTube, and her voice doesn't seem that unusual to me? Maybe her "accent" was more subtle in real life and Natalie Portman was doing an exaggerated version.

It all depends. Which clip did you watch (from when)?

I watched this clip. I listened hard for the "weird accent" but I just couldn't hear it!

@Lilith said:

Now I feel like a jerk for thinking that was just about the worst acting I ever saw. However I still can't stand the accent.

The accent may have been similar, but her voice was too nasally. Natalie's timbre was completely different. I found it unwatchable.

Try this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrZdkQWYlew

@SWLinPHX said:

@jenx42 said: I found it on You Tube and it's not even horrible quality! I don't think I've ever seen Roma Downy in anything but Touched By An Angle.

Yeah, out of all the movies made either about her or portraying her it is THE only one to encompass her entire life up to that moment: young girl in dysfunctional household, debutante, young wife, First Lady, grieving widow, jet-setter "Jackie O", rich widow (again), book publisher & NYC socialite and grandma.

I understand why she didn't but I would have loved if she'd given Barbara Walters (a friend and contemporary) an interview. Can you imagine all they could have covered?? Also, she has ordered all her private memoirs to be sealed until 100 years after her death, as well as her famous pink Chanel assassination outfit sealed and preserved until then.

I agree, would have loved to see that!

My first instinct when i heard her accent was to be a bit surprised, but i quickly settled in to the fact that I'm watching Jackie and not Natalie Portman... If she had watered down the accent she would have remained Portman in the viewers minds throughout the movie.

I think she deserved the Oscar over Emma Stone. I was expecting a one-note, noble-person-in-grief performance and instead got a nuanced portrait that humanises and makes tangible, what to younger generations, is merely an icon.

Her performance was highly underrated in this film

I just caught this film and I must say that I think Portman's version of Jackie's accent was more "abrupt" and forced than the limited recordings we have. It boarderlined on being a caricature IMO (kinda like when people do Elvis or Jack Nicholson), but it wasn't a distraction for me. I just sat it aside and enjoyed the complex narrative. She did a great job overall, but had she found that sweet spot between the stilted accent she did and her natural cadence it would have been perfect.

@SWLinPHX said:

But on IMDb they were saying "she sounds nothing like that!" without knowing what they were talking about or ever hearing her. Her White House tour is famous and has been shown in many clips as well as other interviews before election. There is also a recording of a message she left on Michael Jackson's answering machine when she was publishing his book at Doubleday. All anyone has to do is search YouTube and if they aren't even willing to do that, then why make statements when they don't know what she sounds like?

Also, the Kennedy administration was before I was born too, but that doesn't mean I haven't heard her or only know things from when I was alive.

Agreed.