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You can catch Jan's weekly movie reviews and gossip with Antonia Brickell on Drive between 4 and 6pm on 95.6, 96FM and 1026 MW

On their roles

Portman: It’s so rare to find a script with one role as complex as either one of these and to have two in the same film, both for women and of the same age, is completely unheard of, so it was really exciting.

Johansson and Portman in the film

I wanted to play Anne because it was just so different from anything I had ever done before and it was just an amazing opportunity to get to work with Scarlett who I've admired since we were kids.

Bana: Originally when I read the script I wanted to play Anne, but Natalie was already attached!

I had friends send me emails saying, ‘I've heard you're playing Henry VIII, you've got to see this guy’s portrayal’, but I deliberately steered clear of that because it’s restrictive enough playing a real person, but to then be restricted by another actor’s interpretation is kind of crippling so I steered clear of it completely.

On research

Johansson: It was helpful to have the etiquette supervisor on the set, for things like, how shall I carry my hands? How deeply shall we curtsy? Would I nod towards this servant?

It was interesting to find out and it added to the freshness and the authenticity of the period. As far as my research went, other than finding out land ownership or husbandry, just factual information, it was impossible for me to find any kind of record.

I only had the book really to reference because I couldn't find anything other than the fact that Mary had one, if not two children by Henry VIII.

Portman: There’s so much information on Anne, and I think you're just continuously reminded of how biased history is and how history is always someone’s version and is always some sort of fiction.

You can see people’s agendas behind people’s depictions of Anne, whether they had some sort of feminist agenda or an agenda at the time to depict her as this witch who put a curse or spell on their beloved King.

I think it’s nice too that we present our film as so clearly a fiction and so clearly an imagination of the events even though the timeline is relatively accurate.

On accents

Bana: It’s an extra challenge. It is also an extra tool you have to think consciously about getting into the character, so I think that while it does require more work, it is also an advantage to a degree because it forces you to switch, to consciously have to jump in and out of the character.

On director Justin Chadwick

Bana: The thing I love about working with first-time directors is that it’s quite shocking how little difference there is between them and directors who've been directing all their lives.

I love working with people who have had television experience because I think there’s a real kind of efficiency and methodology that comes from that background.

Having seen Justin’s work on Bleak House, I knew he would be incredibly well prepared and interesting stylistically for this, which was most definitely the case.

He’s very liberating for actors, he creates a very loose environment, and he’s a great collaborator… I never felt like I was working with a first-time filmmaker.

Portman: The film was shot digitally, which is really unusual for a period film – I think it might be one of the first.

So they were always figuring out the shots so meticulously and… I think they succeeded on such a grand scale in making it look as beautiful as it could… And he really brought a modernity to the way the film came out, he really brought a pace and real emotion, it doesn't feel as removed as period films can feel.

Johansson: I'd seen the Bleak House series which was so riveting. And he [Chadwick] said to me, ‘I've been an actor before and I want to make certain that, even with the craziness of the story and the costumes and the set and the locations, that we really find the humanity of the story’… and I think he was really successful in that.

And I really appreciated that he maintained that integrity throughout production and was really always trying to find the humanity of these scenes as opposed to just the melodrama and the rivalry.

He wanted to find the deeper human connection between the characters.