Natalie Portman tells 'A Tale of Love and Darkness'

(AP) — "It's like, I guess you caught me! I'm a nerd!" Natalie Portman says, laughing.

The New York Times Style Magazine asked Foer to interview Portman about her directorial debut, "A Tale of Love and Darkness ."

Onlookers smirked at the literary and occasionally pretentious words and thoughts exchanged between the two as though they'd stumbled on something private and deeply embarrassing.

Portman, seated on a couch in the sun soaked living room of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel's Royal Suite, tries not to pay attention to all of that.

[...] 35 and a mother, Portman lights up discussing the evolution of the Hebrew language as much as she does her recent films.

[...] the one closest to her heart is "A Tale of Love and Darkness," in theaters now.

Portman's been working this adaptation of Amos Oz's memoir for the better part of a decade, about the author's childhood in the 1940s and 50s, the birth of the Jewish state and the loss of his depressive mother, who Portman plays.

With over 25 years working in front of the camera, Portman behind the camera drew on learnings from directors she's worked with — Darren Aronofsky's eagerness to hear ideas from anyone and Terrence Malick's unconventional "paint from life" methods among them.