Actress Charlotte Gainsbourg had a cathartic experience filming new movie Antichrist because the project forced her to abandon her own fears about death.
The star was hospitalised in 2007 after suffering a brain haemorrhage following a water skiing accident, and the near-fatal health scare left her terrified about death.
She admits the timing of the Lars von Trier drama couldn't have been better - because it distracted her from sinking into a dark place.
She tells Interview magazine, "It (scare) did affect me very much - in an accidental way. I didn't have time to be scared before going into surgery. It happened very quickly, but then, when I recovered and I was better and nothing was wrong with me anymore, that's when I started to be scared and panicked. I just kept thinking about myself all the time.
"I'm quite tough - I don't feel that much pain, and I don't feel scared about death. And suddenly I became this fragile little thing that was scared every minute of dying, of getting a new haemorrhage in my head.
"The panic continued until Antichrist. It was such a release to be able to work and put my head into something that was stronger than my own little fears and problems. That film was helpful. I just needed to push everything aside."