NEW YORK -- As much as Kim Basinger loved the I Dreamed of Africa project, it was also a nightmare.

The 46-year-old mom was nervous about taking her then-two-year-old daughter Ireland into the South African wilderness for filming.

"It permeated my soul. If I've ever not slept over anything in my life, it was those months prior to going into the bush with her," says Basinger, who has never spent more than a night or two away from her daughter.

"It started off with giving her shots at my house. I had a pediatrician come here and give her eight shots in her arms. It's the hardest thing I've had to do."

To ease her mind, she and husband Alec Baldwin decided to go to Africa as a family and they surrounded their daughter with a staff to protect her from all the dangers.

"Everything in Africa has teeth!" exclaims Basinger. "I told them to watch out for anything that moved, especially her because she moves all the time ... and she was so drawn to those poisonous little green frogs."

Basinger took the risk because she just couldn't turn down the demanding role of Kuki Gallmann, whose real-life story as an African rancher will likely catapult the Oscar-winner to a new level of professional respect.

Both Basinger and Gallmann share a devotion to animal protection. The Hollywood actress loved dealing with the animals needed for I Dreamed of Africa and didn't mind learning to handle snakes, even when they bit.

"I just said: 'OK, Kim, you're going into the bush and you're going to learn to do things differently.'

"I've ridden horses ever since I was a kid, but quarterhorses, not thoroughbreds.

"Hugh (Hudson, the director) picked an ex-polo pony -- and they're very fast. I had to learn to ride properly, like an equestrian would, rather than my Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn way of jumpin' on the back of a horse and taking off."

Producer Stanley Jaffe was impressed with Basinger's dedication.

"There were moments in Africa when we were waiting for someone to say it's too hot and dusty. One day it was 132 F and both she and Vincent (Perez, Basinger's on-screen husband) just kept going," recalls Jaffe.

Basinger says it's all part of a learning process.

"When I left Africa, I had faced so many fears," says Basinger in her delicate Southern drawl.

"If I've conquered them or not, I don't know. But I've befriended them. I was very proud of that part of it."

This self-strength does not sound like the woman who graces the cover of Vanity Fair and in it is described as a flighty woman who will wake her husband in the middle of the night to fetch her soup from a favourite diner.

"I mean, wake Alec in the middle of the night? Are you kidding? For what?" Basinger says. "You can't wake him up. I'm the one who was out of the bed in a half-second during the earthquake and he woke up and thought that we were having a thunderstorm, or that the toilet blew up."

When Baldwin was in the Calgary area shooting The Edge, there were rumours the couple planned to buy property in the Canmore area. When asked if buying land in Canada was still an option, Basinger laughs and rolls her eyes: "You'll have to take that up with Alec, he's always thinking up things like that. But I loved Canada and I loved that area. It was amazing."

Growing up with two acting parents means Ireland, now four, will likely follow in their footsteps.

"She doesn't care about (our careers) at all. She sees us and she puts two and two together, but the only thing it represents to her is work means I'm going away," says Basinger. "She's a clown. You know what she is, she is a parrot. She repeats everything and she can imitate anyone."

One thing that will prevent Ireland from becoming famous like her folks is the fact she hates to be photographed.

The toddler wanted to attend the premiere of I Dreamed of Africa, but decided against it when she realized there would be lots of photographers in attendance.

"She doesn't like to be photographed and her daddy is the biggest ham bone when it comes to that," says Basinger. "He'll (try to distract her to take her picture) and she'll look and say: 'NO! NO! NO!' She can't stand it."

Basinger's next film, Bless the Child, a supernatural thriller, has completed filming but does not have a release date at this time.


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