Natalie Portman was so determined to give an authentic performance as a soldier’s wife in Brothers she contacted the families of troops serving in the Middle East. The actress plays a woman who falls for her brother-in-law while her husband is at war, and admits the research she completed before filming gave her a new insight into the lives of army families.

She tells Playboy magazine, “I spoke to many military wives, and that was really helpful. They were able to provide details about what kinds of things they do on a daily basis, and how they deal with their spouses being away. And what the kids are like, and how they misbehave! So how they deal with all that. And what kinds of (messages) they leave their husbands.”

And she reveals her interaction with military families inspired a plot twist in the film, adding, “That’s how we came up with the idea of the letter Tobey Maguire leaves behind for me - because one of the women told me that her husband wrote a letter to each one in the family, that was only to be opened if he were not to come back.”

“I mean, even to contemplate that is such a level of mortality, that none of us really grapple with on a daily basis. So it’s just a really different kind of existence to lead.”

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