Natalie Portman has her eyes set on all kinds of new projects, and very few of them include new films. But the movies she is considering could pack a wallop.

Portman, who came in just a hair short of the top spot on Jspace’s Top Women of 5772 list, is being very picky with the film projects she’s taking on. The most interesting production we’re hearing about is a Michel Hazanavicius-directed, World War II-era film called “In the Garden of Beasts.” Tom Hanks has already signed on for the lead role and talks are underway to get Portman attached to the project as well.

Producers have their sights set on Portman playing Hanks’ daughter Martha, a young American woman who falls in love with the vibrancy and allure of 1930s Berlin, only to be horrified when she and her family learn of Hitler’s plans for Jews and Germany.

Sounds interesting, but Portman’s far from a shoe-in at this point. The question is: “why?” The short answer is: Aleph. Portman is giving motherhood a real try, which is leaving less time for work. But it seems the Academy Award-winner couldn’t be happier with her decision. “She has this glow about her these days,” a source told US Weekly. “There’s been a change in her since her little man arrived. She and Benjamin [Millepied] are so content.”

Of course, Portman is still Portman, and that means being civically-conscious and politically aware, which is why she’s using her free time to help the Obama re-election campaign. She was in Cincinnati on Wednesday at the Obama-sponsored Women’s Summit, where she told crowds that the Republicans and presidential hopeful Mitt Romney don’t have women’s best interests in mind.

“We need to stand up for ourselves,” Portman told the mostly-women crowd at Union Terminal. “Our mothers and our grandmothers made giant steps for us. We can’t go backwards. We need to go forwards.”

J-Connection: Portman once told a reporter in 2006 that "a priority for me is definitely that I'd like to raise my kids Jewish.” Looks like she’s well on her way.