There’s been a lot of recent stir around Natalie Portman’s dance performance in Black Swan.
Sara Lane, Natalie’s dance double is accusing her and the film of minimizing her role in the film.
After Natalie’s fiancé Benjamin Millepied who choreographed the film stated, “85 per cent of that movie is Natalie”. Sarah retorted to Entertainment Weekly, “Of the full body shots, I would say five per cent are Natalie… I do want people to know that you cannot absolutely become a professional ballet dancer in a year and a half no matter how hard you work. I’ve been doing this for 22 years.”
I did not work on the film and have no idea what was shot or what made the final cut….nor do I care.
It’s unfortunate that there is public controversy between choreographer and performer, but at the end of the day I am confused on why this is even an issue? Ballet is an art that takes a lifetime to master. Who in their rational mind would expect an actress to rise to the level of a master in a relatively short time?
I thought Black Swan was an amazing film, what I presume was Sarah’s dancing in the wide, complicated dance shots were incredible (fouettés turns pointe), and Natalie Portman’s performance exceeded my expectations (I even had an itchy back for a solid week after watching it). So was my experience of the movie reduced because I assumed there was a double, wirework, and CGI that was most likely used in production? Absolutely not. I bought my ticket because I respect Darren Aronofsky as a director, I knew Natalie would kill the role (pun not initially intended, but then it was), and I’m generally on the same page with the films that Fox Searchlight puts out. If I wanted to see a ballet performance, I would have Netflixed Baryshnikov or watched a local school performance.
Can Johnny Depp handle a sword after working on four installments of Pirates of the Caribbean? Yes. Is an Olympic gold medal in fencing in his cards? No.
Yes, Robert Downey Jr. is really that quick witted, but….No, he can’t really make or fly in an Iron Man suit.
If you had to compile a team to break into a high security area and rescue a loved one from evil forces, would you be more comfortable with the cast of Ocean’s Twelve or the United States Special Forces? If I were the loved one being held for hostage, I would hope you would choose the latter.
These are all silly non-issues. We all know that Hugh Laurie is not really a doctor and we all know that stunts and stunt doubles are used in almost every production. The fact that people find controversy in professional stunt performers doing action for actors is absurd.
It’s my hope that the Academy will eventually acknowledge the work of the stunt department and give credit to all departments behind “movie magic”.
Currently, stunts is the only major department that is not recognized for an Oscar.
