Annette Bening was taken to hospital after being bitten by a tick

She told the New York Post newspaper's Page Six column: "It wasn't bad. I'm from California, so Lyme disease is very scary. I overreacted a little bit... it was no big deal, and I tend to be pretty calm about things in general, but when that tick bit me I was scared."

And after her hospital visit, Annette took a course of medication as a precaution.

Her co-star, Michael Zegen, said: "She took all the necessary antibiotics."

Despite her health scare, Annette - who plays Russian actress Irina in the adaptation of Anton Chekov's play - admitted working on the movie was a "dream come true".

She said: "All of us grew up doing plays. I was a theatre major at San Francisco State. We all fell in love with Chekhov because he was a genius.

"He managed to find that fine line between what is tragic and what is hilarious."

The veteran actress had been attached to the project for some time before it began development so she was delighted that it's finally seen the light of day.

She told The Hollywood Reporter: "I'm so grateful that they wanted to do it. It took a lot of work for these people to get the money together to do a period film of Chekhov in this environment.

"When I did one of his plays like 30 years ago, I was playing the ingenue in 'The Cherry Orchard' and a very good director said, 'What is ridiculous about your character?' Which is really a smart thing because Chekhov always found what was ridiculous in people, but he loved people."