Natalie Portman has said she tries to “stay away from playing Jews” after her latest role as a Chasidic wife.

The 28-year-old actress told Elle magazine: “I get like 20 Holocaust scripts a month but I hate the genre”.

In her new film New York, I Love You, out later this year, she plays strictly Orthodox diamond buyer, Rifka Malone.

The film has already caused some controversy after Abe Karpen, a Chassidic actor from Brooklyn who was to partner Ms Portman in the film, dropped out of shooting after being pressured by an outraged response from the New York community.

The full interview Natalie Portman will appear in the February issue of Elle magazine.