'I chose to play Jackie as she described herself'

Ginnifer Goodwin is in a great place.

Not only does the 35-year-old US actress have a hit TV series, Once Upon A Time, in the bag, her latest role sees her playing one of the most iconic women in US history, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, in Killing Kennedy.

The two-part television movie that chronicles slain US president John F. Kennedy's (Rob Lowe) time in the White House and his assassination on Nov 22 in 1963 premieres Dec 1 at 9pm on National Geographic Channel (StarHub Ch 411/SingTel mio TV Ch 201).

It also focuses heavily on JFK and his wife Jackie's relationship, while offering some insight into the life of Lee Harvey Oswald (Will Rothhaar), who was arrested for the murder.

Goodwin, who's expecting her first child with her Once Upon A Time co-star and fiancé Josh Dallas, spoke to M earlier this month from Vancouver, Canada, where she is filming the third season of the fantasy series.

THE CHOSEN ONE

"I was given the Killing Kennedy script at the beginning of this year and after reading it, I fell absolutely in love with it. I told them I'd love to play Jackie, and then we started work in June.

"I don't think I've got any roles from auditioning for about eight years. I've been very, very blessed that all the roles that I've played were all offered to me."

PRESSURE COOKER

"There was so much pressure playing Jackie. She's not just a world icon. She's also a woman whom I deeply admire. I was rather overwhelmed in the beginning.

"But after taking to (director) Nelson McCormick we decided to go with the side of Jackie that no one knows about - the intimate, behind-closed-doors side."

BECOMING THE ICON

"I did research excessively because I wanted to be authentic. I didn't want to do an impression of her. I didn't want to imitate her. I wanted to play a feeling of her. I think of her as a character, and not as Jacqueline Kennedy.

"I watched everything that existed about her. I gravitated towards her direct quotes from interviews, her own words when she spoke to the cameras... I chose to play the way she described herself instead of people describing her."

WEDDING PLANS

"A fairy-tale wedding? I'm not talking about that. The stuff we show on TV and movies are far more glamorous.

"I don't have time to plan the wedding. Right now, it just seems like work, work, work.

"Killing Kennedy was all I did during my little break from Once Upon A Time, and after that it was straight back into Once. We've worked through the weekends so we don't really have time for anything but movie- and TV-making."

joannes@sph.com.sg

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