Natalie Portman Joins Terrence Malick’s ‘Lawless’ & ‘Knight Of Cups’

Nope, still no plot details or anything really about Terrence Malick‘s upcoming back-to-back films “Lawless” and “Knight Of Cups,” but as if we couldn’t be any more stoked about what the elusive filmmaker will bring to us next, here comes this little bombshell. Natalie Portman will be joining both films. Damn.

Just to recap: “Lawless” will star Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Ryan Gosling, Rooney Mara and Haley Bennett, and it already created waves last fall when pre-production work was underway at the Austin City Limits music festival. What’s it about? Who knows. But that is one helluva cast, but no shocker really, considering Malick is the kind of guy actors line up to work with (unless they are Christopher Plummer or Adrien Brody). Meanwhile, “Knight Of Cups” also stars Bale and Blanchett along with Isabel Lucas, and again, no details on what it might be about.

“Knight Of Cups” will shoot first this summer, with “Lawless” following in the fall, with Sarah Green and Nicolas Gonda producting. But will the films be connected? When the films were first announced they were said to be “separate narratives,” but the Bale/Blanchett/Portman crossover casting is interesting, so we’ll have to see how it all develops. But here’s a curious bit of trivia: back in 2010, both Brad Pitt and Natalie Portman were rumored to be working on Malick’s long developing Jerry Lee Lewis biopic (you can read all about that project here) so it’s interesting to see her coming back into the fold again here.

Meanwhile, Malick is currently sitting on another presumably completed film, the untitled romance starring Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Javier Bardem and Olga Kurylenko. Still no word on when that will see release, but clearly Terry is moving faster now than he ever has in his career. As for Portman, this is one helluva of a way to return after her post-baby hiatus. [Deadline]