Natalie Portman acted like "your average everyday Jewish mother" on the set of 'Jane Got a Gun' to make sure everyone was OK.
Natalie Portman
Portman plays gunslinger Jane Hammond in the western revenge film and she admits her maternal instinct took over during filming because the movie was beset with so many obstacles to overcome.
Natalie co-produced the project as well as star, and made it her job to look out for everyone on set.
The Oscar winner - who is married to Benjamin Millepied, with whom she has four-year-old son Aleph with - told the New York Post newspaper: "There were so many obstacles. We lost the director early on. Actors changed. We suffered financial and legal challenges. We endured so many replacements. There were delays. The weather was unforgiving. Sandstorms. Rains in April.
"That's why I, just basically your average everyday Jewish mother, would go around asking everyone, 'You OK? You all right?' "
Natalie - who was born in Jerusalem, Israel, but was raised in the US from the age of three - had little knowledge of America's Wild West before accepting the role but she read a lot of books so she was totally prepared to accurately portray Jan, who has to battle a murderous gang to protect herself and her family.
She explained: "I knew nothing. I was sent a script. I'd never read anything like this feminist story about a woman in those old days, making her way in the unforgiving, tough Wild West. Toting a rifle,
husband riddled with bullets, shooting bad guys, baking bread, washing children, surviving. I did research. I took a crash course. I studied books. Read diaries ... I have a child. I know what it's like to care for a baby. But to do that with the civilization's surrounding toughness, to make that journey and survive it. That's the story."
'Jane Got a Gun' also stars Joel Edgerton, Noah Emmerich and
Ewan McGregor and is in cinemas now.
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