Fox Searchlight is releasing the psychological drama LUCY IN THE SKY, this Friday October 4.

Director Noah Hawley (Legion) recently spoke with Desde Hollywood about his cinematic influences, the the real-life story that inspired the script, how casting the protagonist ende up shaping the story, and much more.

The film stars Natalie Portman, Jon Hamm, Zazie Beetz, Dan Stevens, Nick Offerman, Tig Notaro, and Ellen Burstyn.

At the beginning of the film we see the character experiencing a “Whoa! moment” that changed her life. Did you experience something similar in regards to movies, that made you become a filmmaker?

The first film that I saw in theaters was “2001: A Space Odyssey” when I was seven, which it’s a fascinating parental decision.There were different times back then. To be a young child watching something so enormous, that wasn’t made to be an information-delivery device but an experiential film, it had a tremendous impact on me. All the imagery of that film still sticks out so much in my memory, almost like a dream. I didn’t go into filmmaking as my first career, but those early memories had a profound influence in the kind of filmmaker that I wanted to be.

What did you find particularly interesting about the real-life events that inspired this story?

The most fascinating thing was the reaction to it, honestly. The story was reduced to a tabloid punchline. For her, to go from being literally on the top of the world and an American hero, to a mugshot… there had to be a profound and tragic experience. For me, the film was about taking the human being at the heart of this story and give her some dignity back.

It also helps us all realize how fragile our states of mind, and our lives can be. Right?

Yes. When she has that transcendent experience in space, she comes back and starts to ask questions like “What does it all mean? Who am I?” But her work was her identity, so she isn’t equipped to answer those questions. She is not a mentally ill person, she is going through a series of crisis. When her job is taking away from her, she really spirals at that point.

I can’t think of anyone better to portray Lucy than Natalie Portman. How perfect was she for the role?

Something that you didn’t necessarily saw in the page, was the kind of swagger that she had. That redefined the character for me, since day 1 of filming. We started to adjust the script after spending some time with Natalie, seeing her bringing this character to life.

How useful was it to have the experience of making such a visually rich show like “Legion”?

I became a filmmaker working on “Fargo,” which is a much more linear storytelling approach. “Legion” was a visual experiment, and I went back to that early Kubrick experience. When you have a character that doesn’t know what is real and what’s not, that is the experience that the audience must have. When I read the script for this, I realized that the same metaphorical visual approach could be used.

I feel that you made the sexual aspect of the story fit into a bigger puzzle, but you didn’t want to make the story about that. Is it a fair assessment?

Well, the more explicit you make a tragedy the more exploitative it feels. The most interesting part of the affair is to see two damaged people that are trying to cope with their circumstances in different ways. There is a moment when that passion comes close to her feeling of risk and awe, but it is still a symptom… it is her trying to replace what she felt in space. So we calibrated and work on those scenes to focus on her point of view instead of the male gaze that uses the woman as an object.

LUCY IN THE SKY will be released in theaters on October 4.

In LUCY IN THE SKY, Natalie Portman plays Lucy Cola, a strong woman whose determination and drive as an astronaut take her to space, where she’s deeply moved by the transcendent experience of seeing her life from afar. Back home as Lucy’s world suddenly feels too small, her connection with reality slowly unravels.