The 65mm Woman: Natalie Portman To Star In Sia Musical VOX LUX

To be frank, Vox Lux sounds kind of nuts. A 65mm old school musical helmed by Brady Corbet (The Childhood of a Leader), it follows the fifteen-year journey of Celeste, a musician who survives a "life-changing event" and sets out to become the world's biggest pop star. Featuring a score by Mica Levi (Under the Skin) and new songs from Sia, the whole thing looks to be about as ambitious as movies can get on paper. 

Corbet was originally supposed to shoot the picture in 2016 with Rooney Mara in the lead role (and Jude Law playing second fiddle), but that never happened and Mara has since dropped out of the project (Law is staying on, though). Replacing her is Natalie Portman, which will not only reunite her with Law - as the two appeared in Mike Nichols' Closer together, for which Portman was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar - but also Levi (who scored Portman's 2016 Best Actress nod in Jackie). Pretty good odds of success, I'd say. 

Beyond all the talent involved, the other reason to be intrigued is the fact that anytime Portman is involved in a music-centric movie, it's pretty magical. Obviously, there's the ballerina horror picture Black Swan (which she won a Best Actress Academy Award for), but also Terrence Malick's undervalued melodrama about the Austin music scene, Song to Song. The lady knows her tunes, and Vox Lux could turn into something special, once it starts shooting this February.