Michelle Trachtenberg‘s retro, fresh-faced look is definitely a far cry from her Buffy the Vampire Slayer days. The former teen actress is proving her versatility in her role as Marina Oswald, wife of accused killer Lee Harvey Oswald, in an upcoming National Geographic Channel TV movie, Killing Kennedy.
The 27-year-old former Gossip Girl star will star opposite Will Rothhaar as Lee Harvey Oswald, Rob Lowe as John F. Kennedy, and Ginnifer Goodwin as Jacqueline Kennedy in the film, which chronicles the final years of Kennedy’s life.
In the newly released images, Trachtenberg shows off lighter locks and a 60s-era wardrobe, complete with knitted sweater and orange-and-red striped shift dress. She totes a baby in her arms, presumably June Oswald, the couple’s first daughter.
“I am so excited for the challenge to portray Marina Oswald, and to do my first role speaking only in Russian,” Trachtenberg told Us Weekly in an exclusive interview in May. “I’m the only actor playing someone who is still alive, so I want to stay as true to her as possible.”
The real Marina Oswald Porter (the Russian-born Dallas resident remarried in 1965) is now 71 years old and still contends that her late husband is innocent. She and second husband Kenneth Jess Porter have two sons together.
Production for the film began this month in Richmond, Va., according to The Hollywood Reporter, and is set to air in November.