One of the many films Reese and Hello Sunshine have been working on producing is Lucy In The Sky, a sci-fi drama directed by Noah Hawley and starring Natalie Portman and Jon Hamm. The two stars of the film talked about Reese’s involvement as producer in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly:
Natalie Portman, Jon Hamm talk Lucy in the Sky, astronaut love, and interstellar f—kboys
Fresh from the film’s Toronto International Film Festival debut, the stars talk about their cosmic attraction at the center Noah Hawley’s bonkers drama ‘Lucy in the Sky’
Some romances are written in the stars; others are written because of the stars, as is the case for Natalie Portman and Jon Hamm‘s otherworldly obsession in the upcoming Reese Witherspoon-produced movie Lucy in the Sky.
Inspired by real-life astronaut Lisa Nowak’s mental unraveling after she manned the space shuttle Discovery’s STS-121 mission in July 2006, Legion creator Noah Hawley crafted a sci-fi-tinged psychological journey into the damaging effects of one astronaut’s life-altering voyage that triggered a violent episode of near-fatal attraction. The film follows Portman as Lucy Cola, a star-gazing space-traveler who, after returning to earth from a lengthy mission beyond the atmosphere, has a steamy affair with her mysterious coworker, Mark (Hamm), who thrusts her world into a state of philosophical chaos. Still, as Lucy’s grip on reality loosens, her feelings for Mark intensify, leading to the film’s increasingly trippy exploration of a cosmic alignment of two disparate hearts (that ultimately leads to an epic conclusion too bonkers to spoil here).
Also starring Dan Stevens, Ellen Burstyn, Zazie Beetz, Colman Domingo, Tig Notaro, and Nick Offerman, Lucy in the Sky rockets into theaters on Oct. 4. Ahead of the film’s release, which follows its world premiere at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, read on for EW’s full conversation with Portman and Hamm, in which they discuss their characters’ zany chemistry and Witherspoon’s impact as a producer.
What were Reese Witherspoon’s contributions like as a producer?
PORTMAN: Reese is an amazing person and an amazingly involved producer. She wasn’t on set because she was filming her show at the same time, but our script was the product of her input, ideas, and notes when she was developing it, and also in the post process, she was involved in watching and talking about it with us and Noah. She’s so sharp, smart, and generous. She’s been like a real sister and role model just for that, being able to do everything and be kind and generous while creating work for hundreds of other people.
Do you remember any conversations you had with her on how she wanted you to play Lucy?
PORTMAN: She was generous in not trying to control it and respecting my own process… She has such an amazing eye for finding stories about women that feel like people we know or feel like, even when it’s things that we can’t imagine ourselves doing, in places we can imagine ourselves getting to in an extreme state, and to find women that feel more like us than fantasies of how other people want us to be for them.
HAMM: Reese, like Natalie, has been working and successful since she was a kid, so when you work with people like that who have been around the industry for so long, they have such perspective on stuff. It’s confidence! When I talked to Reese about the project and working on set with Natalie, there’s a sense of working with professionals — no pun intended. [Portman laughs].
I’m glad you guys had the experience, I just wish Reese had better bowling tips for Natalie.
PORTMAN: [Laughs] Maybe I’ll get her to teach me!
HAMM: Reese is a s—y bowler!
PORTMAN: I bet she’s really good! She’s good at all the things!
We can save this for Lucy in the Sky 2.
PORTMAN: Yes. We’ll have a bowl-off!
(EW.com)