Halle Berry - Halle Berry was nursed by Hanks on Cloud Atlas

Halle Berry was nursed by Hanks on Cloud Atlas

Halle Berry says Tom Hanks was like her own personal nurse on the set of their new movie 'Cloud Atlas'.

The 46-year-old actress broke her foot just two days before shooting started on the project - a science fiction film which is set across six different eras - and was convinced she'd be dropped from the cast.

But bosses changed their schedule to accommodate her injury and co-star Tom took it upon himself to care for her between takes.

Halle said: ''I thought they were going to give me my walking papers. But they threw out their initial schedule and gave up any hope of shooting in chronological order. Tom was a dream partner during the making of the film. Because of my broken foot, each day Tom would play nurse to me. He'd bring me coffee and soup and just stay with me during breaks in shooting because it was difficult for me to move around.''

The Oscar winner incredibly plays six different characters who are linked across time spiritually and she admits when she began her career she didn't expect to ever portray a sexually-frustrated white Jewish wife of a male Asian doctor on screen.

In an interview with The Sun newspaper, she admitted: ''I never could have imagined being part of any film like this. Playing a white Jewish woman was one thing, but playing an Asian man like Dr Ovid was something else. I loved it. Never in my life would I have thought anybody would hire me to be an Asian man.

''The film talks about the human soul and how an evil person can be transformed into a hero, in another body, after a single act of kindness. This film is something unique - I doubt if I'll ever get the chance to be part of this kind of a project again.''

Halle also stars with Jim Broadbent, Ben Whishaw and Susan Sarandon ion the ambitious movie, which is based on David Mitchell's best-selling novel.