Jon Hamm Joins Natalie Portman in Noah Hawley-Helmed Astronaut Drama Pale Blue Dot
Photo by Gabriel Olsen/GettyHouston, we have liftoff. Emmy winner Jon Hamm is joining Oscar winner Natalie Portman in the psychological astronaut drama Pale Blue Dot, according to THR. Fargo and Legion creator Noah Hawley will direct the film, which bases its story on true-life love triangle between three astronauts.
The film centers around a female astronaut (Portman) who begins to mentally unravel after returning to Earth from a long time in space. It is believe this condition affects many astronauts who come back to Earth as they begin to lose their sense of reality—this causes a rift between the astronaut and her family. While in space, Portman’s character, a married woman, begins an affair with a fellow astronaut and following her return to Earth, she discovers her lover has entered into an affair with a trainee astronaut, throwing her into a spiral.
Hamm plays her lover, with whom she has an affair while in space. The script, written by Brian C. Brown and Elliott DiGuiseppi, is inspired by a 2007 true story in which a female mission specialist tried to kidnap her rival.
Fox Searchlight is still producing the film, even with the looming Disney acquisition in the offing. The studio is riding a huge wave of awards-season success with The Shape of Water taking home the Best Picture Oscar and Frances McDormand taking home the Best Actress Oscar for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Originally, Reese Witherspoon was set to star in Pale Blue Dot but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with Big Little Lies season two. She is still producing the project alongside her Big Little Lies producer Bruna Papandrea.
Hamm is best known for his leading role as Don Draper on AMC’s Mad Men, for which he won two Golden Globes and an Emmy. Recently he starred in Baby Driver with Ansel Elgort and he can be seen in the forthcoming Bleecker Street film Beirut with Rosamund Pike. He’ll also be seen this summer in the forthcoming comedy titled Tag, starring Ed Helms, Jeremy Renner and Rashida Jones, about a group of former classmates who organize a nationwide game of tag. Hamm will also return to television in Amazon and BBC Studios’ Good Omens, a six-part adaptation of sci-fi legend Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchet’s best-selling novel.