Natalie Portman Wants to Direct

NATALIE Portman says acting has always scared her — because she is constantly worried people won’t find her performances believable.

The actress — who recently revealed she finds the recession “exciting” — is planning to focus on directing films in the future, but admits the prospect is equally as terrifying as being in front of the camera.

“I really love directing,” she said. “Fear is intrinsic to everything you do as a creative person.

“You’re constantly putting yourself up there to be trashed. If I thought about it too much, I’d just be crippled. I’d rather create.”

Portman, 28, revealed earlier this month how she used to self-harm.

“Just as what you are feeling in your life affects your acting, what you act in definitely affects what you are feeling in your life,” she told the Los Angeles Times newspaper:

“I made Heat when I was 14 and played a girl who died. A year later, I got into a fight with my mother and cut myself. I had never done it before and I never did it after that, but I think having my wrists bloody in a movie definitely affected my psyche.”