Natalie Portman found it "really helpful" to show her new movie to her old directors.
The 35-year-old actress has stepped behind the camera for the first time with ‘A Tale of Love and Darkness’ – an adaptation of Israeli author Amos Oz’s autobiography, which is told in Hebrew – and after being influenced by working with Mike Nichols, Darren Aronofsky, and Terrence Malick, she sought their feedback while editing the movie.
She said: "All of them really influenced me just by working with them and getting the great luck of observing them in action, but I really leaned on them most, I think, during the editing process, where I got to show them the film and get their feedback.
"It was really helpful mainly because they are such different filmmakers and they were all very encouraging of me making my own thing. They would say, ‘Obviously I would do this this way, but you need to do it your way’.
"Especially Terry, he always said to me, ‘Paint from life. You paint from your perception of the world.’ "
Though she took on some of their tips, which Natalie credits for making the movie "much better", she was still careful to do things her own way and stay true to her own vision.
She added to Business Insider: "You have to be careful when you’re getting feedback because people will give you conflicting feedback all the time, but ultimately you end up following your own inner guide.
"Darren, in one scene where there are gunshots, I had the boy running before the shots and he was like, ‘If you put it after, it ups the tension by a thousand,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, obviously’. He said it and immediately it became obvious and clear and was so much better.
"Sometimes people say something to you and you’re like, ‘I respect you so much, I love what you do, but I disagree. I don’t think that’s right for the way I see it.’ "
Natalie Portman sought feedback from directors
