Why the Actor Playing JFK in “Maria” Looks So Familiar – Find Out!

Since Wednesday, February 5, Angelina Jolie has taken on the role of Maria Callas in French cinemas, in a feature film directed by Pablo Larrain, who is known for his films about Jackie Kennedy and Lady Di. This time, the director focuses on the final days of the celebrated soprano in Paris, marking the third and final installment of his trilogy about 20th-century female icons.

In “Maria,” Callas is not the only historical figure featured. In one of the black-and-white flashbacks, we see Aristotle Onassis (Haluk Bilginer), her lover from 1959 to 1968, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963, portrayed by Caspar Phillipson.

If Phillipson’s face looks familiar, it’s not just from his role in the opening sequence of “Mission: Impossible – Fallout,” where he played a character known as The European. It’s because this is the sixth time he has portrayed John Fitzgerald Kennedy, having done so in other projects like Andrew Dominik’s “Blonde” and previously under Pablo Larrain’s direction in 2016 in “Jackie”.

“When we decided to include a few scenes with JFK, the question of casting another actor obviously came up,” said Pablo Larrain on the matter. “But why? I’m not a fan of multiverses, and that’s not what I’m trying to do. But Caspar is a fantastic actor, and he really resembles JFK, so it was a clear choice to bring him back. Plus, he’s a lovely person and a talented actor, so it worked on every level.”

Could Natalie Portman Make a Cameo as Jackie Kennedy?

Does this mean Natalie Portman could have reappeared as Jackie Kennedy in “Maria”? Or would that have been too much like a Marvel-style cameo? “We thought about it for a while, but it wasn’t a good idea. It would have been too much, better to just hint at her presence, especially since they never met in person. They did exchange letters at one point, but they never physically met.”

Beyond the themes they share (the contrast between public image and private life, the themes of death and ghosts, the criticism of women who chose to live their lives on their own terms), the inclusion of Caspar Phillipson as John Fitzgerald Kennedy in “Maria” indicates that the three films in Pablo Larrain’s trilogy indeed share the same universe, making them even more intriguing.