Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Natalie Portman Transforms For Role Inspired By Diaper-Wearing Astronaut

Good news for approximately the first time since 2016: Natalie Portman will play a married astronaut who falls in love with a fellow NASA worker played by Jon Hamm, in a movie that is based off the surreal 2007 story of the astronaut love-triangle that ended with a woman driving cross country in a space diaper. The whole thing will be produced by Reese Witherspoon.

In “Pale Blue Dot,” Portman will star as Lucy Cola, an astronaut who returns to earth and experiences a disassociation common to astronauts after long missions. She begins an extramarital affair with another astronaut (Jon Hamm) and then loses everything when he in turn begins a relationship with another astronaut (Zazie Beetz.)

Lucy Cola is a fictional character. But Captain Lisa Nowack, who inspired the story, is very real. In 2007, she drove 900 miles in a car packed with a knife, a bebe gun, rope, and disguises without stopping to confront her ex-lover’s new girlfriend. She was charged with attempted murder but accepted a plea deal for a lesser charge. The scandal had everything: Astronauts, road trips, sex, the promise of violence, and a spurned woman in a diaper.

As Cola, Portman is being called unrecognizable. We don’t think so — it’s an unflattering haircut, but to us the fierceness of Natalie is as on display as ever.

In character as Lucy Cola. ?: @hilstills #sneakpeek

A post shared by Natalie Portman (@natalieportman) on

Jenny Singer is the deputy lifestyle editor for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.