HOLLYWOOD superstars were spotted at Lacock Abbey on Friday filming scenes for a historical epic.

Natalie Portman, who starred in the Star Wars films, and Munich star Eric Bana, were seen enacting a playful scene with a child in the grounds of the former Augustinian nunnery, in full period costume.

The A-listers, along with Hollywood beauty Scarlett Johansson were at the Abbey, and Great Chalfield Manor near Melksham, to film scenes for The Other Boleyn Girl.

Part produced by the BBC, it is a period romance about the fight for the affections of Henry VIII between Anne Boleyn and her sister Mary.

Bana plays Henry alongside Portman as Anne and Johansson as Mary, in the film directed by Justin Chadwick, who won a BAFTA for his adaptation of Bleak House.

News of their arrival had travelled far and one woman, Rosemary Greeley, made a special trip to the National-Trust-owned building in the hope that she would see her favourite actress.

The 41-year-old from Boston, Massachusetts, USA, said: "I love Scarlett Johansson. She always gets the good roles and I have read the book the film is based on so I know it is a good story.

"I am visiting friends in England so it was a perfect excuse to come to Wiltshire and Lacock is just so beautiful.

"I have not seen Scarlett yet but watched Natalie Portman and Eric Bana do a scene together which was wonderful."

A National Trust volunteer on duty during the filming had a more intimate encounter with one of the actresses on the day.

He said: "I was in the restroom which is next to the toilet and Natalie Portman came in with a minder wearing her voluminous, corseted, costume.

"She disappeared inside and when she came out I said I bet that was difficult' and she threw back her head and laughed out loud.

"I saw the other one too and found them to be very pleasant and very nice. In my experience, that tends to be the case, the more serious the actor.

"Nobody will believe me when I tell them I have met two Hollywood starlets and Catherine of Aragon in one day."

Filming continued on Monday and Tuesday before the Hollywood stars left Lacock with the crew in tow.