PEOPLE is debuting glimpses of the dark comedy costarring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Zach Galifianakis

NEED TO KNOW

• Natalie Portman leads The Gallerist, in theaters Dec. 4
• Images from the film shared exclusively with PEOPLE show the actress as an art gallery owner in dire straits
• The Gallerist also stars Jenna Ortega, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Sterling K. Brown, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Daniel Brühl, Zach Galifianakis and Charli xcx

Natalie Portman leads an all-star cast in her new movie, a dark comedy that skewers the world of modern art — literally. 

The Gallerist (in theaters Dec. 4) centers on art gallery owner Polina Polinski, played by a platinum-blonde Portman, 45, who resorts to drastic measures to turn an accident into a priceless work of art at her Art Basel Miami premiere. 

PEOPLE has the exclusive first look at images from the movie, including the Oscar winner’s costars Jenna Ortega, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Sterling K. Brown, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Daniel Brühl and Zach Galifianakis.

It’s social media influencer Dalton Hardberry, played by Galifianakis, 57, who becomes part of a large-scale sculpture entitled “The Emasculator” that quickly becomes the gallery’s sensation. 

One of the new stills from The Gallerist shows Portman and Galifianakis considering the art made by Randolph’s Stella Burgess, which resembles an oversized pair of pliers. 

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Director Cathy Yan, who co-wrote the movie with James Pedersen, called it a “dark satire set in the art world” when speaking to PEOPLE at the Sundance Film Festival premiere in January. 

The filmmaker praised Portman, who filled two roles as both the film’s leading lady and producer. “She does it so well,” said Yan, 40. “When she’s on set, I think she really tries to stay in character and be the actor. But then in prep and then in post-production, she really puts on her producer hat.”

“I have been a huge fan of Natalie, and she was everything that I wanted her to be,” Zeta-Jones, 57, told PEOPLE in January. “Sometimes you want to work with somebody, you admire somebody and you just hope they’re everything that you imagined them to be. It’d be so depressing if they weren’t! And she was just extraordinary.”

The Chicago Oscar winner added at the time that she knows “what a joy it is working with” Ortega, 24, her Wednesday costar playing her onscreen niece in The Gallerist. “It was such a great, fun, dark comedy with [female] characters that were flawed and making their way and dealing with consequences — in a world where probably men would get away with things more than they would.”

The Gallerist also features actress-musician Charli xcx in a memorable role. “She really knows the craft. She is a cinephile through and through,” recalled Yan. “Turns out that she had gone to art school in the past, so there was a sort of overlap.”

Roadside Attractions and Vertical will release The Gallerist in theaters on Dec. 4 following its Sundance premiere.

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