black swan dance double controversy
sarah lane was natalie portman' s dance double for
black swan .
it seems natalie portman' s black swan dance double still has her feathers ruffled .
the big
black swan controversy
- what you need t ...
the big
black swan controversy
- what you need to know ...
[ xxxii ] adam markovitz, “black swan director darren aronofsky defends natalie portman in body - double controversy”, entertainment weekly, 28 march 2011 .
doesn' t sound like this controversy is going to get resolved anytime soon, especially since portman acknowledged the black swan camera crew in her oscar acceptance speech—but not her dance double .
read more on kimberly' s black swan assignment here. read debra levine' s review of black swan on hufpo here .
ballerinas having a throw - down catfight? looks like, controversy or not ,
black swan
got it right after all .
he has seen countless productions of swan lake .
the original script had this idea of being haunted by a double — and swan lake is about a double, a white swan and a black swan — so the connections started to come alive .
natalie portman is staying mum about her black swan dance double' s claims that she only did a small portion of the dancing in her oscar - winning performance .
that’s a lot of popular appeal for a film about a ballerina preparing to dance the dual role of odette (the white swan) and odile (the black swan) in “swan lake. ”
janica smith says odile, the black swan, comes more naturally to her .
sarah lane was making a name for herself in the ballet world long before she played the dance double for natalie portman' s troubled character in
black swan .
the
flashdance
dance double controversy didn' t affect sales at the box office back in the day, and the feud with lane over
black swan
will likely boost sales of the dvd, which, conveniently, comes out on tuesday .
when asked about the black swan dance double controversy, natalie portman dodged the question, saying ,
i had a chance to make something beautiful with this film and i don' t want to give in to the gossip .
[ e! ]
“i just want to be perfect. ” | black swan (2010) – fictionmachine
[ xvii ] darren aronofsky, “directing black swan”, american cinematographer, december 2010 .
abt dancer sarah lane served as a
dance double
for natalie portman in the film .
blackout... some have accused studio fox searchlight of downplaying the role of natalie portman' s dance double in black swan. photograph: c. foxsearch / everett / rex features
really? when i looked her up on imdb she is credited as natalie' s dance double .
on the set:' black swan' s' natalie portman, darren ...
american ballet theatre soloist sarah lane sits down with dance channel tvapos; s stuart brazell for an intimate conversation about her career, dance background and of course... black swan .
its plot revolves around a production of tchaikovsky' s swan lake ballet by a prestigious new york city company. the production requires a ballerina to play both the innocent white swan and the sensual black swan. black swan received five oscar nominations, including one for best picture .
do you think portman danced most of her scenes in “black swan”? share your thoughts below .
@ quincette (45), thanks for posting the link to that black swan vfx reel .
phot: natalie portman as embattled ballerina nina in
black swan .
credit: fox searchlight
natalie portman' s character loses her grip on reality in black swan. photo by niko tavernise .
when i tell non - dance people that i write about dance and especially ballet, their first question is usually to ask what i think of' black swan'. the short answer is that i believe
aronofsky had also seen numerous productions of
swan lake
and he connected the duality of the white swan and the black swan to the script. when researching for the production of black swan, aronofsky found ballet to be
a very insular world
whose dancers were
not impressed by movies
.
the nasty post - oscar battle between natalie portman and her dancing double, sarah lane, over who did what on the
black swan
dance floor is a flashback to the 1983 dance blockbuster
flashdance ,
which was panned by critics but a box office smash .
sarah lane, american ballet theatre star and dance double to natalie portman in
black swan ,
has again gone public with her accusations that she did most of the dancing for the part that won portman an oscar .
natalie' s portrayal of the black swan was the single most talked about performance in film this year .
[ vi ] david gritten, “black swan: natalie portman interview”, the telegraph, 17 january 2011 .
loder, kurt (december 2, 2010) black swan, reason; accessed december 22, 2015 .
okay, maybe not big or fat, but the dance community is certainly unhappy with portman, as the latest issue of dance magazine contains allegations from portman' s dancing double on
black swan
that portman didn' t actually do the legwork in her oscar winning performance .
sacramento state' s sacramento / black art of dance will celebrate its silver anniversary with a performance this week .
but the one thing she' s remained tight - lipped about is the controversy around her
black swan
dancing double, sarah lane, who said last month that she did the work that won portman a best - actress oscar for her starring role in the film .
[ ix ] christina radish, “mila kunis interview black swan”, collider, 24 november 2010. (urltoken )
[ x ] susan wloszczyna, “black swan stars step deftly into roles”, usa today, 22 july 2010 .
[ xxvi ] amy kaufman, “black swan director ruffles actresses’ feathers”, los angeles times, 28 november 2010 .
it seems ballerina sarah lane isn' t ready to drop her feud with the black swan filmmakers just yet .
the ballerina who stepped in for natalie portman in black swan to be the double for moves the actress could not do has said the star performed only a minuscule amount of footwork .
soon, they will be freed from the rigors of moviemaking. this is the final week for filming dance scenes in the psychological thriller black swan, opening later this year .
the confidence students learn through dance can be transferred to many other fields. photo by damon plant, courtesy stem from dance
@ eve – “you guys are generalizing when you say everybody who believed black swan’s cgi lie is an idiot. ”
black swan is a 2010 psychological thriller directed by darren aronofsky and starring natalie portman, vincent cassel and mila kunis .
in her first television interview, sarah lane, the professional ballerina who was actress natalie portman' s dance double in
black swan ,
accused filmmakers of lying about how much lane danced in the film, and trying to cover it up .
film buffs – check out the ballet drama “the red shoes”. anyone think that moira shearer did or did not use a body double? no controversy is necessary regarding the black swan body double dancer. she should take the payment that she was guaranteed per whatever contract she signed, and remain silent. her professional career may be jeopardized by her publicity seeking behavior .
many ballet professionals find “black swan” extreme, even offensive. yet the film offers some truths about their art form, say the two dancers preparing to dance odette - odile here .
natalie portman can' t catch a break - - or, to hear her body double sarah lane tell it, caught a lot of them during the filming of
black swan .
lane, a soloist with the american ballet theatre and natalie portman' s dancing double for
black swan ,
has spoken out to let everyone know that she did the tricky stuff .
“black swan” director darren aronofsky issued this statement on the furor today: “here is the reality. i had my editor count shots. there are 139 dance shots in the film. 111 are natalie portman untouched. 28 are her dance double sarah lane. if you do the math that’s 75% natalie portman. ”
the release of
black swan
in the united kingdom was brought forward from february 11 to january 21, 2011 .
black swan
went on to gross over $ 106 million in the united states and over $ 329 million worldwide .
[ xviii ] decca aitkenhead, “vincent cassel: black swan theory”, the guardian, 21 january 2011. (urltoken )
' twenty - eight are her dance double sarah lane. if you do the math, that' s 80 percent natalie portman.'
in a written statement, “black swan” director darren aronofsky said, “here is the reality. i had my editor count shots. there are 139 dance shots in the film — 111 are natalie portman untouched. twenty - eight are her dance double sarah lane. if you do the math, that’s 80 percent natalie portman. ”
in a new 20 / 20 interview airing tonight, natalie portman' s dance double from black swan gives her first tv interview explaining why she thinks the filmmakers need to come clean about the amount of dancing the star actually did for the oscar - winning role .
“there are 139 dance shots in the film, ” he says. “111 are natalie portman untouched. 28 are her dance double sarah lane. if you do the math that’s 80% natalie portman. ”
[ v ] pamela jahn, “black swan: interview with darren aronofsky”, electric sheep, 16 january 2011. (urltoken )
[ xiv ] pamela jahn, “black swan: interview with darren aronofsky”, electric sheep, 16 january 2011. (urltoken )
[ xxii ] terry gross, “to become a “black swan”, portman had to go dark”, npr, 30 november 2010 .
natalie portman wedding:' black swan' actress marries benjamin millepied
. the huffington post. august 5, 2012 .
there are others who are more savagely competitive and sensual such as lily (mila kunis), who becomes nina’s understudy. the white swan is odette and the black swan is odile and in this movie, each character is also a symbolic character. nina is the white swan. the sexy new dancer from the west coast, lily (mila kunis), is the black swan .
the lack of double - casting is a superficial way in which “black swan” diverges from reality. more fundamentally, wistrich says, a dancer with nina’s severe emotional immaturity wouldn’t survive in a major ballet company .
one other notable thing: the difference in body types between “the red shoes” and “black swan. ” considering the recent controversy between the “new york times” dance critic and a certain prima ballerina, it’s interesting to see what real ballerinas looked like in the 1940s compared to how one perceives they should look in the 2010s .
as e! online points out, this is just the latest controversy for portman, who has become a popular target seemingly from the moment she hit the stage to accept her academy award for her role in
black swan
as a ballerina who becomes unhinged after landing the lead role in
swan lake .
wendy perron, editor - in - chief of dance magazine, a choreographer and a dancer, said she knew of lane’s role in “black swan” and wondered why a soloist ballerina whose technical skills were vital to the complicated dance sequences was being cast out of the limelight .
update (3 / 26): black swan fimmakers issue statement: “natalie did most of the dancing featured in the film. ”
actor vincent cassel also compared black swan to polanski' s early works and additionally compared it to david cronenberg' s early works .
[ iv ] adam batty, “black swan: interview with darren aronofsky”, clothes on film, 17 january 2011. (urltoken )
a month after natalie portman took home the oscar for her portrayal of a prima ballerina in darren aronofsky' s dark thriller
black swan ,
controversy erupted regarding whether she had actually performed the dances in the film. portman' s ballet body double, sarah lane, claimed that the majority of the dancing was performed by professionals .
in a written statement ,
black swan
director darren aronofsky said ,
here is the reality. i had my editor count shots. there are 139 dance shots in the film - - 111 are natalie portman untouched. twenty - eight are her dance double sarah lane. if you do the math, that' s 80 percent natalie portman .
ballet dancer benjamin millepied talks about fiance natalie portman, what he learned working on' black swan' and what projects are up next .
i dont know why ppl involved in the black swan movie just dont give credit where credit is due to her stand - in dancers .
wendy perron, editor - in - chief of dance magazine, a choreographer and a dancer, said she knew of lane' s role in
black swan
and wondered why a soloist ballerina whose technical skills were vital to the complicated dance sequences was being cast out of the limelight .
sarah lane says
black swan
producers asked her to keep quiet on her role. watch the full episode from 20 / 20: urltoken
natalie portman doesn' t keep the oscar she won for black swan on display because it would be like' worshiping a false idol.'
to recap the story, prince seigfried is walking in the forest and meets odette, who has been turned into the white swan by an evil sorcerer. they dance to tchaikovsky’s divine score, and he vows eternal love. the next night, the sorcerer appears at the castle with odette’s double, the black swan, odile. in a glittering dance famous for its 32 consecutive fouetté turns, odile captivates the prince and makes him break his vow .
sprouting feathers, nina' s arms start to become black wings as she finally loses herself and is transformed into a black swan. at the end of the act, she receives a standing ovation from the audience .
nina auditions for the part, performing flawlessly as the white swan, but she is unable to emulate the characteristics of the black swan. upset, she approaches thomas and asks him to reconsider her as the lead role. thomas forcibly kisses nina which causes a change of character & bites him, convincing him that she has the ferocity to play the black swan .
here is the reality ,
aronofsky said in a statement put out by fox searchlight, the studio behind
black swan .
i had my editor count shots. there are 139 dance shots in the film - - 111 are natalie portman untouched, 28 are her dance - double sarah lane. if you do the math, that' s 80 percent natalie portman .
perron wrote her opinion in a blog that was soon picked up in the national media, and “black swan” filmmakers moved swiftly to defend their star .
when aronofsky proposed a detailed outline of black swan to universal pictures, the studio decided to fast - track development of the project in january 2007 .
in “the new yorker, ” joan acocella describes ballet movies as a genre and finds that “black swan” is a variation of “the red shoes. ”
thanks to reader jeff (who i noticed is also mentioned in perron’s blog, linked to above) for pointing me to the controversy .
in a way, the authenticity with which black swan highlights this particular dimension of ballet draws attention to what aronofsky left out: the thrill of moving, the joy of creating art with your body, the high of a great performance. black swan is a brilliant snapshot of ballet’s dark side. but, although we all know the vicious black swan is the sexier role, it’s too bad moviegoers will miss out on seeing the beauty of the white .
[ viii ] katey rich, “interview: darren aronofsky on music, scares and gender in black swan”, cinemablend, 2 december 2010. (urltoken )
[ xv ] katey rich, “interview: darren aronofsky on music, scares and gender in black swan”, cinemablend, 2 december 2010. (urltoken )
the whole dance world, natalie and her dance shot counting director all pretended or believed she became the dance for this role. they had young ballerinas in training believing portman learned the dance in her off time between gigs. i saw them online constantly, so that is true. the lie sold tickets and stole awards .
the black swan controversy keeps on spinning. in an interview with abc’s 20 / 20 that aired friday, sarah lane — the dance double who has contended portman did “5 percent” of the full - body dancing in the film — said that the filmmakers who have come to portman’s defense are “completely lying. ” director darren aronofsky said in a statement last month that, of the 139 dance shots in the film, 111 are of portman “untouched, ” while 28 are of lane: “if you do the math, that’s 80 percent natalie portman. ”
portman has kept quiet since the war of words began last week, but she was very candid about using a dance double for the complicated routines in interviews before the oscars .
sarah lane, who served as natalie portman’s dance double in the ballet drama “black swan, ” says she “definitely” wasn’t given the credit she feels she deserves for her work on the movie. portman’s performance won the oscar for best actress at the academy awards earlier this year; she didn’t thank lane from the stage. now, with a debate about her contributions to the film brewing on the web, lane is speaking out. the dvd of “black swan” is due out this tuesday .
critics and fans cheered as natalie portman danced her way to a best actress win in the movie “black swan” at this year’s academy awards. now wendy perron, editor in chief of dance magazine, is questioning whether enough credit has been given to sarah lane, who performed some of the actress’ dance moves in the movie .
it seems ballerina sarah lane just isn' t ready to drop the black swan controversy yet. she is speaking out again about the fact that she did most of the dancing in black swan and producers told her to keep quiet about it. black swan director darren aronofsky has come to actress natalie portman' s defense refuting the claims that portman only did about 5 percent of the dancing in her oscar - winning role. now, lane is speaking out in an interview with abc news' 20 / 20, claiming that she was featured in most of the film' s full body shots. however, black swan editor andy weisblum tells 20 / 20 that lane is exaggerating what she did in the film. check out the clip below: sarah lane on 20 / 20
perron wrote her opinion in a blog that was soon picked up in the national media, and
black swan
filmmakers moved swiftly to defend their star .
[ xii ] peter knegt, “darren aronofsky, natalie portman and winona ryder on the making of black swan”, indiewire, 21 august 2014. (urltoken )
in the days that followed, others associated with the film have rushed to defend portman, who won her first academy award for her performance in “black swan. ” on saturday, “black swan”‘s distributor fox searchlight released a statement in which they praised lane’s double work but asserted that “natalie herself did most of the dancing featured in the final film. ” and just yesterday, director darren aronofsky released his own statement :
in other words, forget what he said earlier, he’s not going to stake his professional dance reputation on performing publicly with her. he knows the truth. but he’s willing to say what he needs to to protect his black swan connections .
the consistent contempt and double standards the mainstream media shows vs. anything remotely connected to the right…
jennifer beals dance double, marine jahan, told
entertainment tonight
that producers hid her involvement because
they didn' t want to break the magic of the film .
announced that millepied had accepted the position of director of dance, beginning september 2014 .
sarah lane is upset over the controversy surrounding her, natalie portman and “ black swan “, because she feels many people view her as greedy and angry over the misrepresentation of her contribution to the film, especially the request made by the film’s producer that she not give any interviews prior to the academy awards .
update, 5: 50 p. m. est: director darren aronofsky released a statement today via fox searchlight to defend natalie portman’s performance in “black swan. ”
black swan
producers told lane to keep quiet, according to an april article in huffington post. lane could not be reached for comment for this story .
it is an incredibly confronting moment of violence, and is arguably the point at which black swan makes its ultimate transition from paranoid drama to full - blown horror .
here is the reality. i had my editor count shots. there are 139 dance shots in the film—111 are natalie portman untouched. twenty - eight are her dance double sarah lane. if you do the math, that' s 80 percent natalie portman .
‘i was also very interested in dostoyevsky’s the double, ’ he explained, ‘which is a story about a guy who wakes up and his double’s there – it starts to replace his life. and then i went to see a production of swan lake, which i thought was just a bunch of girls in tutus. i didn’t know what it was. then i saw that there was a black swan and white swan, both played by the same dancer, and it was kind of a eureka moment: i was like, “oh wow, so there’s a double…” then it started to come together. ’ [ iii ]
she thanks her hair and makeup people but not her dance double? ?? ?? ? no not everyone thanks their doubles but they don’t thank their hair and makeup people either .
natalie portman may be keeping quiet, but her “black swan” director darren aronofsky isn’t. after sarah lane, portman’s body double, claimed in an interview friday the oscar winner had only performed 5% of her full body dance sequences on screen aronofsky has issued a statement to ew making it clear the american ballet theatre soloist knows not of what she speaks .
' i do have a double for the complicated turning stuff,' portman told ew last november .
knerr says that lane plans to discuss her career, experiences and her role in
black swan
during a 30 - minute q & a after the master class .
ironically, a film about a ballerina who is haunted by a doppelganger is dealing with critical comments being made by a dance double who worked on the movie–and now the director is weighing in .
85: seconds of the first dance sequence that portman allegedly danced alone, on pointe .
speaking of perfect natalie and how she does everything perfectly, forever, there’s a new chapter in the ongoing saga of “ who the hell did the dancing in black swan? ” i know, you thought it was over, right? i’m not even going to recap everything, just know that natalie’s dance double sarah lane has been claiming for a month now that she did all of the big dance sequences in black swan, and everybody else from the film has been like “no, natalie is perfect! ! ” the last chapter we had was natalie portman finally saying something about the controversy – and referring to it as “nastiness”. because sarah lane = nasty to perfect natalie. well, sarah lane sat down for an interview with abc news… and she makes some good points :
her claims to entertainment weekly come following portman' s fiancé and black swan choreographer benjamin millepied saying earlier this week that natalie had performed most of the moves in the film .
. as incentives for the contest winner, she offered her designer rodarte dress, worn at the red carpet premier of black swan, along with tickets to her next premiere .
all this drama and controversy surrounding the movie reminds me of the drama, competition and hatred there is in the real world of ballet. it’s kind of ironic .
“i had my editor count shots. there are 139 dance shots in the film. 111 are natalie portman untouched. 28 are her dance double sarah lane. if you do the math that’s 80% natalie portman. what about duration? the shots that feature the double are wide shots and rarely play for longer than one second. there are two complicated longer dance sequences that we used face replacement. even so, if we were judging by time over 90% would be natalie portman. ”
in march, lane, a soloist with the american ballet theatre, told entertainment weekly that the public had been misled about how much dancing portman did in
black swan .
sarah lane, an acclaimed dancer with the american ballet theatre, served as natalie portman’s dance double in the movie “black swan. ” shortly before the movie was released on dvd this week, a controversy was kicked up about who actually performed the bulk of the ballet in the film, which tells the story of a dancer who loses her mind but finds her true artistic self. director darren aronofsky claims that portman, who won an oscar for her role, performed 75% of the on - screen dancing in the movie, while lane says portman performed only about 5% . the wall street journal asked portman and lane to write essays about their experiences on “black swan. ” portman, through a representative, declined. (you can read the director’s defense of portman here .) after the jump, you can read lane’s take on “black swan, ” screen credit, and her love of ballet .
both movies featured dance doubles that felt snubbed. the only difference seems to be the oscar .
it will be bittersweet for the sacramento state dance company as founder linda goodrich prepares to retire .
btw, urltoken has an article about the body double for portman from her new movie, your highness. it was the body double who actually dived into that cold lake in belfast, because portman didnt want to .
swan
one of the best mangas you' ve never heard of ...
another inventive element of black swan is its remarkable score, produced by regular aronofsky composer clint mansell – formerly of the band pop will eat itself. rather than develop melodies himself, mansell adapted and remixed pyotr ilyich tchaikovsky’s own compositions for the swan lake ballet. he also worked with the electronic music group the chemical brothers to develop the film’s occasional sections of dance music .
after making the fountain in aronofsky & producer mike medavoy had screenwriter john mclaughlin rewrite
the understudy ,
aronofsky said mclaughlin
took my idea of swan lake and the ballet and put [ the story ] into the ballet world and changed the title to black swan .
the critic said of the thematic mashup ,
aronofsky... never succeeds in wedding genre elements to the world of ballet... white swan / black swan dynamics almost work, but the horror - movie nonsense drags everything down the rabbit hole of preposterousness .
the black swan controversy keeps on spinning. in an interview with abc’s 20 / 20 that aired friday, sarah lane — the dance double who has contended portman did “5 percent” of the full - body dancing in the film — said that the filmmakers who have come to portman’s defense are “completely lying. ” director darren aronofsky said in a statement last month that, of the 139 dance shots in the film, 111 are of portman “untouched, ” while 28 are of lane: “if you do the math, that’s 80 percent natalie portman. ” “i’m not speaking because i feel like i should be heralded, ” lane said to 20 / 20′s elizabeth vargas .
“here is the reality. i had my editor count shots. there are 139 dance shots in the film. 111 are natalie portman untouched. 28 are her dance double sarah lane. if you do the math that’s 80% natalie portman. what about duration? the shots that feature the double are wide shots and rarely play for longer than one second. there are two complicated longer dance sequences that we used face replacement. even so, if we were judging by time over 90% would be natalie portman .
here is the reality. i had my editor count shots. there are 139 dance shots in the film. 111 are natalie portman untouched. 28 are her dance double sarah lane. if you do the math that’s 80% natalie portman. what about duration? the shots that feature the double are wide shots and rarely play for longer than one second. there are two complicated longer dance sequences that we used face replacement. even so, if we were judging by time over 90% would be natalie portman .
last week, a silly controversy erupted over how much dancing natalie portman did in black swan. benjamin millepied, the film’s choreographer (and portman’s finacee) told the la times that portman did “85 percent” of the dancing in the film. her dancing double sarah lane responded by telling ew that portman’s work only comprised 5 percent of the full body shots. lane also says there was a cover - up and that producers asked her not to speak so as not to jeopardize portman’s oscar chances. now director darren aronofsky has stepped in to try and put the matter to rest. he says that the of 139 dance shots in the movie, 111 are portman and 28 are lane. hit the jump for his full statement and my thoughts on this “controversy” .
[ xi ] lisa rosen, “barbara hershey’s intimate dance”, los angeles times, 18 november 2010 .
the company is preparing to open the season with the
swan lake
and he director, thomas leroy (vincent cassel), is looking for a new principal dancer after he forces another dancer, beth macintyre (winona ryder) into retirement. thomas wants the same ballerina to portray the innocent, fragile white swan as well as her mysterious, sensual twin, the black swan .
20 / 20 segment - excellent little documentary. really helps you understand why lane (and ballet) deserves more credit. includes beautiful footage of lane dancing, and interview with her, and interview with wendy perron, the dance magazine blogger who helped bring this controversy to light .
“here is the reality. i had my editor count shots. there are 139 dance shots in the film. 111 are natalie portman untouched. 28 are her dance double sarah lane. if you do the math that”s 75% natalie portman. what about duration? the shots that feature the double are wide shots and rarely play for longer than one second. there are two complicated longer dance sequences that we used face replacement. even so, if we were judging by time over 90% would be natalie portman, ” aronofsky says .
natalie portman' s ballerina double says she deserves credit for role in film. for more, click here: urltoken
i wonder if np didn’t win the oscar for her performance would this be a big deal to the body double… .
this seemed a trifle odd, because black swan really didn’t seem like the sort of movie that critics and award ceremonies liked to praise. they were correct in that the film is heavily influenced by roman polanski’s early films – particularly repulsion – and they were also correct in that portman’s performance really is exceptional. what most critics and audiences seemed to miss was that black swan was a horror film .
according to the website, the critical consensus is ,
bracingly intense, passionate, and wildly melodramatic, black swan glides on darren aronofsky' s bold direction—and a bravura performance from natalie portman .
while most moviegoers would not immediately catagorize “ black swan ” as a special effects film, by digitally imposing lane’s movements into portman’s performance, the question is raised of special effects vs. actor’s abilities .
in
black swan ,
portman played a talented and tormented ballerina, whose searing descent into madness is mirrored by her incredible dancing on stage. but a recent controversy sprang up after lane claimed to not only have danced in some of the movie' s most unforgettable scenes that earned portman a best actress oscar, and that filmmakers asked her to refrain from talking about her role .
last week a minor controversy rose up around black swan, when natalie portman ‘s body double sarah lane claimed that fox searchlight had prohibited her from doing interviews before the oscars so that voters would believe that portman had done the majority of her dancing in the film. portman' s fiance / baby - daddy benjamin millepied responded to the original article, claiming that the academy award winner had done “85% ” of her dancing. now, director darren aronofsky has issued a statement defending his star and himself .
‘here is the reality, ’ said aronofsky, ‘i had my editor count shots. there are 139 dance shots in the film. 111 are natalie portman untouched. 28 are her dance double sarah lane. if you do the math that’s 80% natalie portman. what about duration? the shots that feature the double are wide shots and rarely play for longer than one second. there are two complicated longer dance sequences that we used face replacement. even so, if we were judging by time over 90% would be natalie portman. ’ [ xxxii ]
it' s hard to believe the world is still talking about how much ballet dancing oscar winner natalie portman performed while shooting black swan, but here you go: in an exclusive interview with 20 / 20 - - that was tweeted out by @ breakingnews of all places! - - portman' s dance double sarah lane goes on the record, again, to discuss what might be the myth of natalie portman: ballet queen .
here is the reality. i had my editor count shots. there are 139 dance shots in the film. 111 are natalie portman untouched. 28 are her dance double sarah lane ,
aronofsky said .
if you do the math that' s 80% natalie portman. what about duration? the shots that feature the double are wide shots and rarely play for longer than one second. there are two complicated longer dance sequences that we used face replacement. even so, if we were judging by time over 90% would be natalie portman .
[ … ] portman did behave unethically regarding her honors for “black swan. ” check the transcript of her academy award acceptance speech. she thanks many people connected with the film, but never [ … ]
he said: while the visual - effects studio involved with black swan, look effects, did not respond to several phone calls and emails from the daily beast, black swan director aronofsky confessed to entertainment weekly, “there are two complicated longer dance sequences that we used face replacement. ” millepied added in an interview with the los angeles times that they achieved long dance sequences without heavy use of cgi “by getting more movement going, which in turn added to the camera movement—that is basically what i did. if we had kept things more classical, more restrained, less fluid, it would have been harder to trick the eye. ”
but it appears as if it' s a bigger deal when it' s a dancing double as opposed to a singing double, as famously used by natalie wood in
west side story
or audrey hepburn in
my fair lady .
sarah lane, natalie portman’s dance double in “black swan, ” told the wall street journal this weekend that she did the overwhelming majority of the dancing in the film. “i should specify the actual percentage of dancing that natalie did, ” lane said in one email. “they are saying that it was 85 - 90% of the dancing but i can tell you honestly that it was about 5% of the on - screen dancing. ”
[ … ] fictionmachine. (2015) “i just want to be perfect. ” | black swan (2010). 5th august. [ online ] [ accessed on 1st november 2016 ] urltoken [ … ]
photos: courtesy kimberly prosa debra levine writes about dance for the los angeles times. she blogs on arts•meme .
when you' re hired to be someone' s body double, shut the fuck up and stop being bitter about it .
for lane, the silver lining in this controversy may just be that ballet is taking center stage in a national discussion. an unanticipated opportunity to share the commitment and dedication of all ballet dancers .
according to westcott :
controversy is too complimentary a word for two people using their considerable self - publicising resources to loudly complain about their credit once they realized how good the film is .
but while those teapot - based tempests just show the kind of crap celebrities have to deal with once they become successful, the allegations by lane are a bit more serious, as they call into question the very reasons portman won the oscar in the first place. lane, it should be noted, is listed simply as an extra in the
black swan
credits, rather than a double - - and if you ask portman' s baby daddy ,
black swan
choreographer benjamin millepied, this is all just a case of sour grapes .
lane points out dancing was the real star of the film. “it was everything to the movie. it’s called “ black swan. ” she’s a ballerina who goes crazy. you can’t make it realistic if you don’t have realistic dancing. it was a huge part of movie. and i know that’s why they wanted to hire a soloist or a principal from one of the biggest ballet companies in the world to be the double. i’m not just any double that you get, i’m not a stunt double that goes in and crashes through a mirror. it’s a lot different what i do. ”
as a movie, “the black swan” does have some excellent special effects. like perron, we liked the on - stage transformation of nina into a black swan with wings, but we also thought aronosky went overboard with the cgi. the moment nina plucks a feather from her skin reminded us of the 1986 version of “the fly” with jeff goldblum. nina’s leg becoming more anatomically like a swan’s seemed silly since people rarely notice the different joint leverage when drawing. too much was revealed, taking away much of the thrill of this thriller .
granted, the movie’s success has far less to do with its ballet - world setting than with its psychosexual horror story. nevertheless, “black swan” has generated heightened interest in city ballet of san diego’s “tchaikovsky spectacular” program .
fox searchlight pictures distributed
black swan
and gave it a production budget of $ 10–12 million. the principal photography was achieved using super 16 mm cameras and began in new york city toward the end of 2009 .
benjamin millepied ,
black swan' s
choreographer - actor who is now portman' s fiance and the father of her baby, also dismissed lane' s claims in an interview with the los angeles times .
the blindness worked both ways: i was struck at the time by how few horror film enthusiasts were talking about it. while the arthouse crowd greedily consumed black swan, the horror fans seemed to generally stay away .
is it' strictly' fever or has ballet become trendy? whatever the reason, dance is definitely getting more exposure in popular culture. here are the some of the best adverts using ballet and dance to sell their products .
he said: in a word, no. although portman failed to mention her dance double in any acceptance speeches or interviews—as is customary in hollywood—and there’s no mention of lane anywhere in a black swan featurette that’s surfaced online centered on portman’s grueling, five - hour - a - day ballet training, in a feature on the film published in the new york times back on nov. 26, at least some credit is given to lane. “the difficult pointe work and turns were performed by a body double, sarah lane, the american ballet theater soloist, ” wrote the times’s julie bloom .
spotted out with her fiancé and baby' s father benjamin millepied, 33, in new york today, she has since remained cordial about the controversy, saying she does not wish to get involved .
amy westcott is credited as the costume designer for the movie and received several award nominations. a publicized controversy arose regarding the question of who had designed 40 ballet costumes for natalie portman and the dancers .
ciara and husband russell wilson dance as they head to south africa for their honeymoon... two years after wedding
' she definitely put her work in,' prosa, one of her dance doubles, told the huffington post .
i enjoyed my chat with dancer kimberly prosa, one of two body doubles for actress natalie portman in darren aronofsky' s black swan. the film, a psychological thriller with dazzling special effects, opens nationwide december 3 .
review aggregator rotten tomatoes gave
black swan
a score of 87% based on reviews from 273 critics, with natalie portman' s performance being lauded & reports a rating average of 8. 2 out of 10 .
1. there was a huge amount of controversy surrounding the use of portman' s body double, sarah lane. lane claims that only 5% of the full body shots shown in the final' black swan' were portman herself, and yet her involvement was played down by the film' s stars. it has even been suggested that digital enhancement was used post - production in certain scenes to put portman' s head onto lane' s body. as i have said above, i think portman did a great job in her role and have no problem with her use of a body double for the more difficult ballet movements. but lane' s contribution should have been properly acknowledged .
this controversy is so inside and stupid. it is obvious that there are disgruntled people (and lane has cause for not getting proper credit at the end of the film) but my god, enough !
this whole thing started when wendy perron of dance magazine wrote a blog entry about the black swan blackout. see urltoken. then millepied responded with his la times interview, and then lane responded. and then comes the 20 / 20 story. with all the attention the story got, i just don’t believe that lane pitched it to abc .
sarah lane, a soloist with the american ballet theatre who worked as natalie' s dance double on the oscar - winning film, continues to claim the 29 - year - old actress did hardly any of the full body shots seen in the movie .
however, lane has no reason to be upset, according to both
black swan
director darren aronofsky and choreographer benjamin millepied, who also served as portman' s dance partner and is now her fiance. aronofsky released a statement in late march refuting lane' s accusations that she had done about 95% of the on - screen dancing .
friday’s edition of abc’s 20 / 20 featured an interview with abt ballet dancer sarah lane, natalie portman’s body double in the film black swan. according to lane, producers of the film wished to keep quiet about the extent of her appearances in the film. meanwhile, several people involved in making the film have claimed that portman performed about 85% of her own dancing. dance magazine’s wendy perron also weighed in on the topic appearing on 20 / 20 and writing with this article .
recently, there has been some controversy regarding a ballerina named sarah lane and her performance in the film, black swan. she has come out to announce that she performed most of the dancing and that natalie portman, who recieved an oscar for her acting in the film, is getting most of the credit. not surprisingly, the producers and even director darren aronofsky have asked lane to keep this situation hush hush. in the credits, the american ballet theater soloist is listed as a “body double” with no mention at all for the dancing that she was hired to execute .
kirk honeycutt of the hollywood reporter gave
black swan
a mixed review, writing :
[ black swan ] is an instant guilty pleasure, a gorgeously shot, visually complex film whose badness is what' s so good about it. you might howl at the sheer audacity of mixing mental illness with the body - fatiguing, mind - numbing rigors of ballet, but its lurid imagery and a hellcat competition between two rival dancers is pretty irresistible .
board members often have experience in the for - profit sector that can be invaluable to dance companies. photo via thinkstock .
shaina branfman baira and bryan strimpel baira dance outside their home. photo by effy grey | effyography, courtesy the bairas .
[ when prosa' s gnarly feet were shown in preview screenings of black swan, they elicited gasps of horror (but yawns in a ballet studio). they' re the result of special - effects make - up. ]
contractually, lane said there was no clause in her contract stating that she could not speak out about what went on behind the scenes although she said black swan producer ari handel did specifically tell her not to talk about the film .
a claim by natalie portman’s ballet double from the movie black swan alleging that the oscar - winning actress did not perform the majority of that film’s dance sequences has quickly been challenged. sarah lane, the american ballet theatre soloist who doubled for portman during some of that film’s most difficult dance sequences, told entertainment weekly that the oscar - winning actress did only 5 percent “of the full body shots” in the film. but the filmmakers insist that simply isn’t the case, saying in a joint statement released by fox searchlight, “we were fortunate to have sarah there to cover the more complicated dance sequences and we have nothing but praise for the hard work she did. however, natalie herself did most of the dancing featured in the final film. ”
black swan is a 2010 american psychological thriller film about a ballet dancer directed by darren aronofsky and starring natalie portman , vincent cassel , and mila kunis . after the 83rd academy awards , in which portman won the oscar for best actress for her role in the film as a ballerina , controversy arose over how much credit for the dancing in the film was being given to her and how much to her " dance double " , american ballet theatre soloist sarah lane . in a march 3 , 2011 blog post ( written prior to the dvd release ) for dance magazine , its editor-in-chief wendy perron asked why a visual effects video clip showing lane 's face being replaced by portman 's was once available online but later removed from the internet prior to the oscars . she also speculated as to whether portman 's omission of lane 's name during her acceptance speech was a case of " forgetfulness in the heat of the moment ? or was this omission , and the deletion from the video , planned by the studio 's publicity machine ? " it was also noted that lane is credited as " lady in the lane " and as " stunts " rather than as portman 's double in the theatrical release of the film . this led to a number of responses regarding portman . aronofsky and fox searchlight released a joint statement that argued : " we were fortunate to have sarah there to cover the more complicated dance sequences and we have nothing but praise for the hard work she did . however , natalie herself did most of the dancing featured in the final film . " benjamin millepied and kunis also argued in defense of portman 's dancing . lane responded through an essay published in the wall street journal ( portman declined through a representative to write one as well ) and an interview on 20/20 that her interest lies primarily in defense of ballet as an art form that can not be mastered in a year . the dvd of black swan was released on march 29 , 2011 and includes the featurette with sarah lane . 
black swan is a 2010 american psychological thriller film about a ballet dancer directed by darren aronofsky and starring natalie portman, vincent cassel, and mila kunis. after the 83rd academy awards, in which portman won the oscar for best actress for her role in the film as a ballerina, controversy arose over how much credit for the dancing in the film was being given to her and how much to her " dance double ", american ballet theatre soloist sarah lane. in a march 3, 2011 blog post (written prior to the dvd release) for dance magazine, its editor-in-chief wendy perron asked why a visual effects video clip showing lane's face being replaced by portman's was once available online but later removed from the internet prior to the oscars. she also speculated as to whether portman's omission of lane's name during her acceptance speech was a case of " forgetfulness in the heat of the moment? or was this omission, and the deletion from the video, planned by the studio's publicity machine? " it was also noted that lane is credited as " lady in the lane " and as " stunts " rather than as portman's double in the theatrical release of the film. this led to a number of responses regarding portman. aronofsky and fox searchlight released a joint statement that argued: " we were fortunate to have sarah there to cover the more complicated dance sequences and we have nothing but praise for the hard work she did. however, natalie herself did most of the dancing featured in the final film. " benjamin millepied and kunis also argued in defense of portman's dancing. lane responded through an essay published in the wall street journal (portman declined through a representative to write one as well) and an interview on 20/20 that her interest lies primarily in defense of ballet as an art form that cannot be mastered in a year. the dvd of black swan was released on march 29, 2011 and includes the featurette with sarah lane.
black swan is a 2010 american psychological thriller film about a ballet dancer directed by darren aronofsky and starring natalie portman, vincent cassel, and mila kunis. after the 83rd academy awards, in which portman won the oscar for best actress for her role in the film as a ballerina, controversy arose over how much credit for the dancing in the film was being given to her and how much to her " dance double ", american ballet theatre soloist sarah lane. in a march 3, 2011 blog post (written prior to the dvd release) for dance magazine, its editor-in-chief wendy perron asked why a visual effects video clip showing lane's face being replaced by portman's was once available online but later removed from the internet prior to the oscars. she also speculated as to whether portman's omission of lane's name during her acceptance speech was a case of " forgetfulness in the heat of the moment? or was this omission, and the deletion from the video, planned by the studio's publicity machine? " it was also noted that lane is credited as " lady in the lane " and as " stunts " rather than as portman's double in the theatrical release of the film. this led to a number of responses regarding portman. aronofsky and fox searchlight released a joint statement that argued: " we were fortunate to have sarah there to cover the more complicated dance sequences and we have nothing but praise for the hard work she did. however, natalie herself did most of the dancing featured in the final film. " benjamin millepied and kunis also argued in defense of portman's dancing. lane responded through an essay published in the wall street journal (portman declined through a representative to write one as well) and an interview on 20/20 that her interest lies primarily in defense of ballet as an art form that cannot be mastered in a year. the dvd of black swan was released on march 29, 2011 and includes the featurette with sarah lane.