Katie Holmes compares her 'Jackie' to Natalie Portman's

PASADENA, Calif. — It's a tale of two Jackies.

On the one hand, you have Natalie Portman, a likely Oscar nominee for her role as Jacqueline Kennedy in the film Jackie. On the other you have Katie Holmes, returning April 2 and 9 (9 ET/6 PT) to the role of Jackie Kennedy, in the two-part Reelz sequel The Kennedys: After Camelot.

"I think it's really exciting," Holmes told TV critics Friday. "I think it's a testament to how amazing Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was, and how much she meant to our country. We are infatuated with her. I think Natalie did a fantastic job, and I'm glad we both had an opportunity to interpret this character...Ours is a different time period in Jackie's life, so you can see both!"

After Camelot picks up after the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy and follows the family's story up to the death of JFK Jr. Much of that story focuses on Teddy Kennedy, played by Matthew Perry — who says he initially had trouble modulating his Kennedy accent. "I sounded like Foghorn Leghorn."

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Holmes says she prepared for six months to get back into the character..

"It was a bigger challenge because in this series, she's going through so many bigger things." But costumes helped. "It's always fun going through Jackie's closet."

With his CBS sitcom The Odd Couple most likely coming to an end, Perry says he has no immediate TV plans.  But he does have Broadway plans: Come May, he'll star in a play he wrote, The End of Longing, which already had a successful London run.

"I've found a tremendous amount of solace in writing. I think that will be a big part of the second half of my life," he says. "Everybody always told me I needed a hobby, and I found that in writing."