Natalie Portman finds it "very hard to watch" herself on screen.
Natalie Portman
Portman has made her directorial debut with 'A Tale of Love and Darkness' - an adaptation of Israeli author Amos Oz's autobiography, which is told in Hebrew - but she also plays the main character's mother and thinks it was a valuable experience being forced to watch her own performance in a "constructively critical" way as the filmmaker.
Natalie believes watching herself back in that way has made her a lot kinder to herself when it comes to her acting performances.
She said: "It's hard [to see myself on screen]. And I think it was good for me because normally I can't watch myself at all, and watching myself makes me cringe, and I cover my face, and it's very hard to watch.
"I think people who aren't in film experience that when they hear their voice on an answering machine or something.
"So to have to watch myself in a way that was constructively critical was really good for me because it made me a little bit more easy on myself because I wasn't allowed to walk away screaming."
But Natalie insists the experience doesn't mean she'll be sitting down to watch all her old movies.
She told Business Insider: "No. That will never happen.
"But as a director you have to -- you don't have the option of saying, 'I'm not watching this.' "
While the 'Black Swan' star insists she hasn't got a full career plan in place, she'd love to direct again in the future.
She said: "I would love to [direct again]. I don't have a particular plan right now because I've been so focused on getting this into the world that I feel now that it's coming out that I can really think about that more."
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