Watch an exclusive clip from The Other Boleyn Girl starring Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman

 Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman play the Boleyn sisters in Justin Chadwick's The Other Boleyn Girl. The film follows the plight of Anne Boleyn and her marriage to Henry VIII, played by Eric Bana, as her sister Mary muscles in on the King's affections with the help of David Morrissey's character, their uncle The Duke of Norfolk.
Here the actresses share their thoughts on why lunch and tight-fitting corsets are not advisable and how it feels to shoot a beheading scene. Plus, we've got an EXCLUSIVE clip from the film.

 

Sister act: Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johnasson as the Boleyn girls

So how familiar were you young ladies with Tudor history?

Natalie Portman: Unfamiliar.
Scarlett Johansson: Unfamiliar! I'll take that card as well. Um yeah we, you know as Americans of course you know Americans I should say, we don't really learn... this is a very kind of brief moment in our world history class. You learn about Henry and the wives and all this, and this tyrannical reign but, and I guess you learn about the Church of England, but it's...
Natalie Portman: Right.
Scarlett Johansson: ...It's a short kind of synopsis.
Natalie Portman: It's very breezed over.

So, did you do the rhyme at school that we did at school here, 'divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived'?

Scarlett Johansson: Divorced, beheaded, survived!
Natalie Portman: We did learn that.

So that was about it?

Natalie Portman: That was pretty much the extent of the er Tudor history I learnt
Scarlett Johansson: Yeah.
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Force to be reckoned with: Eric Bana plays the insatiable Henry VIII who vies for the Boleyn girls attention

So were you in a way excited/nervous about plunging in to play such iconic figures and to play them with very distinctive accents?

Natalie Portman: Well I think it's always exciting when you get to learn so much for a part. You know that you can walk away with actually this intense knowledge of a period or what life was like or, even you know to learn an accent. It definitely challenges but I think.
Scarlett Johansson: It's a challenge.
Natalie Portman: It would be boring without it.
Scarlett Johansson: Yeah it certainly gave us something to prepare with for and it was funny just to have like Natalie and I we're both from New York and, of course we're trying to practice our accents off the set as well and talking about, "Oh that great deli on like 51st Street" or whatever in these accents.
Natalie Portman: Yeah.
Scarlett Johansson: And I was like, "This is ridiculous. I have to just to keep this off and keep it on the set for the set." But er, it was challenging fun and luckily we were going through it together.

So how challenging were the costumes? I don't think they look desperately comfortable.

Natalie Portman: They're incredibly beautiful. Sandy Powell did an amazing job with the costumes. And they definitely help the character in that you walk differently, you hold yourself differently and like Scarlett was saying earlier you have a different sense of space because the skirts are so large you can't really just hug some one.
: Yeah everything is a constant reminder of these restrictions that were placed on women at this time. And, and you know the intimacy between people is, it's a much different kind of a communication because you're in this incredibly elaborate costume. Not fun after lunch though.
Natalie Portman: No. It gets a little, a little challenging, the eating and costume wearing.

In the film, Katherine of Aragon, who obviously has an axe to grind, calls the sisters "the Boleyn whores". Do you think that's a harsh description?

Natalie Portman: Well if two girls are sleeping with your husband and they're sisters I wouldn't have a very good opinion of them.
: No me neither. Yeah I think it was pretty accurate.
Natalie Portman: Pretty understandable from her perspective.

Don't you think it's pretty tragic their story altogether; that they come from a family where a weak father and a horrendously ambitious uncle forces them into this compromising situation?

Scarlett Johansson: Yeah I think it's sad because one of the saddest parts of this story is the fact that these girls ever since they're young have been told that they're one way and that this is the standards that they're supposed to live up to and one is, you know one is manipulative and one is sweet. Of course they grow up as, as fully formed people who know that they're, you know that they're...
Natalie Portman: They're many things.
Scarlett Johansson: ...there are many faces to their own characters but they are still trying to stuff themselves into these boxes. And it's sad I think when children aren't allowed to explore every aspect of their lives and imagination and fully develop that way. So it has a pretty bleak ending.
Natalie Portman: And they're very much a product of their families and, and the values that are instilled in them from such an early age or are so corrupt and not unlike many of our values today. You know, to seek power and wealth and prestige and to do anything to achieve those things. And, that really is sort of the difference between them; that you see that Anne really follows in that path and conforms to the values that are instilled in her, whereas Mary removes herself from that whole belief system.
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The Other Boleyn Girl is released on 7th March

Natalie, how spooky was it to do the execution scene which I was astonished to see is done accurately in the French style?

Natalie Portman: It was actually extremely eerie, because we had this location in Dover in December and there was sort of a wind vortex in the middle of the place while we were shooting. So it felt like all these spirits were sort of looming. And walking down the steps and imagining that this actually happened it really was a different feeling than playing a fictional character. You really feel and think about this woman having been Queen and having all these people cheering for her beheading. And it's just so gruesome and...
Scarlett Johansson: It was really scary. And also we had so many people that were dressed in costume and heckling. And then there was this eerie silence just as she arrived on the step and it was... it was really eerie feeling.

Scarlett, you're about to face your execution as a Queen I believe?

Scarlett Johansson: I know.

You're going to play Mary Queen of Scots.

Scarlett Johansson: I am.

I hope not with a Scots accent.

Scarlett Johansson: Well we'll see it's French and I believe there are many different thoughts on how this should be played of course. But I think that the safest bet would be to let my dialogue coach decide and then just follow her instinct. Her ladies in waiting I think were Scottish but she was living in France so her English would probably be with a Scottish accent, but some of her phrasing would be French. It's very confusing.
The Other Boleyn Girl is released on Friday 7th March

 

Smouldering Scarlett Johansson steals the limelight in Lara Croft-style catsuit as Black Widow in Iron Ma

 
Last summer, insiders on the set of Iron Man 2 let slip that Gwyneth Paltrow was upset that new co-star had been given higher billing in the movie's promotional posters.
And no wonder Gwyneth was smarting - the latest set of stills from the upcoming sequel show Scarlett as a smouldering Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. the Black Widow, in a figure-hugging Lara Croft-style black catsuit.
The 25-year-old's character joins the cast as an undercover spy, even sexy in her secretarial guise as a new assistant to Tony Stark (a.k.a Iron Man), played by Robert Downey Jr.

Smouldering: stars in Iron Man 2 as the Black Widow, in a figure-hugging black catsuit

Meanwhile Gwyneth, who at 37, is 12 years older than the new cast member, reprises her role as Pepper Potts, Stark's closest friend and budding love interest.
But she should at least feel fresh-faced alongside the second new addition, Mickey Rourke, who plays Ivan Vanko, a.k.a. Whiplash - a character based on a combination of Blacklash and Crimson Dynamo from the original comic.
The original 2008 film based on the classic Marvel comic, and directed by actor Jon Favreau, told the story of Stark, an industrialist and master engineer who builds a powered exoskeleton to become the superhero Iron Man.

The new girl: Scarlett (left) in her secretarial guise as Natasha Romanoff, and right, as the Black Widow

Iron Man: Robert Downey Jr. reprises his role as billionaire inventor Tony Stark. Right, in his all-powerful suit

He uses his invention to fight both Afghan rebels and the U.S. Air Force before joining forces with Potts to fight friend-gone-bad Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges).
In the latest film, which is due for release in the UK on April 30, the world is finally aware that Stark is the armored superhero.
But this time round he is under pressure from the government, the press, and the public to share the secrets to his invention.
Fearing the information will slip into the wrong hands, Stark, Potts and James 'Rhodey' Rhodes, played by Don Cheadle, take on the world.

Budding love-interest: Gwyneth Paltrow reappears in Iron Man 2 as Pepper Potts, Stark's trusty sidekick

Upstaged: Gwyneth was said to be angry after her character was left off campaign images in favour of Scarlett

A source from the set last year told the Mail on Sunday rumours of a rift between the female stars after Gwyneth was absent from the film's promotional material.
‘Gwyneth was afraid she’d be upstaged by Scarlett and not being in the campaign was the final straw,' they said.
'She is furious she’s been left out.’
Scarlett was cast as Romanoff after Emily Blunt, producers' original choice for the part, was forced to pull out due to a scheduling conflict.
Given these pictures, it seems to have been a lucky turn of events for film executives - even if not for Gwyneth.

New addition: Mickey Rourke plays Ivan Vanko, a.k.a. Whiplash, a character based on a combination of Blacklash and Crimson Dynamo from the original comic

Taking on the world: In the latest film, due for release on April 30, the world is finally aware that Stark is the armored superhero and he is forced to protect the secrets behind his invention

wyneth Paltrow goes Pepper Potty as Scarlett Johansson steals the limelight

The behind-the-scenes action on Iron Man 2 is almost as exciting as the movie itself.
Gwyneth Paltrow, who returns as Iron Man’s PA Pepper Potts, is furious that new co-star is stealing her limelight.

Limelight: Sexy Scarlett is the sequel's female focus instead of Gwyneth

Scarlett, who plays a Russian spy, appears in a promotional campaign alongside the film’s other stars, Robert Downey Jr and Mickey Rourke.

 

But there is no sign of Gwyneth.

Where's Gwyneth? The star has been missing in promotional press

A source said: ‘Gwyneth was afraid she’d be upstaged by Scarlett and not being in the campaign was the final straw.
'She is furious she’s been left out.’
Gwyneth, 36, now plans to boycott a promotion in San Diego later this month.
‘She’s heading to New York instead, she’s so angry,’ added the source.
A spokesman for Gwyneth said: ‘She was not at all upset.
The fans will get to see more of Pepper Potts as we get closer to the film’s release next May’.