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Natalie Portman's Black Swan Dance Double Won't Back Down

Claire2004

Active member
Natalie Portman's Black Swan Dance Double Won't Back Down

Your move, Natalie Portman.

Ballerina Sarah Lane, who was the Oscar-winning actress' dance double, maintains that she did the majority of Portman's dancing in Black Swan.

The American Ballet Theatre star alleges that after she spoke to Glamour about her part in the movie, she received a phone call from one of the film's producers, who ordered her to stay quiet.

Natalie Portman's Black Swan Dance Double Won't Back Down - omg! news on Yahoo!
 

AIgrl06

New member
I'm sure this could be true, but I trust Darren Aronofsky, and he said Portman did most of the dancing. So there, lol. :p
 

epicamends

New member
Even if she is right (which I highly doubt at this point), she's handling this in such a classless and unprofessional manner. Way to ensure you'll never be hired by another director again, Sarah!
 

MorexLove

New member
'Black Swan' director Darren Aronofsky defends Natalie Portman in body-double controversy
by Adam Markovitz
Categories: Black Swan, Darren Aronofsky, Movies, Natalie Portman
Comments 317 Add comment

Image Credit: Niko Tavernise
Responding to claims that Black Swan star Natalie Portman didn’t do the majority of her on-screen dancing in her Oscar-winning role, director Darren Aronofsky released the following statement through studio Fox Searchlight:
“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.
And to be clear Natalie did dance on pointe in pointe shoes. If you look at the final shot of the opening prologue, which lasts 85 seconds, and was danced completely by Natalie, she exits the scene on pointe. That is completely her without any digital magic. I am responding to this to put this to rest and to defend my actor. Natalie sweated long and hard to deliver a great physical and emotional performance. And I don’t want anyone to think that’s not her they are watching. It is.”
Last Friday, ballerina Sarah Lane told EW that Portman only danced 5 percent of the full-body shots in the film. She also claimed that one of the film’s producers asked her not to speak publicly about her work during Oscar season. Lane’s comments came after Black Swan choreographer (and Portman fiancé) Benjamin Millepied told the L.A. Times that Natalie did “85 percent” of the dancing in the film. Lane could not be immediately reached for comment regarding Aronofsky’s statement.

Darren Aronofsky defends Natalie Portman in 'Black Swan' controversy | Inside Movies | EW.com

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Mila Kunis Natalie's co-star in Black Swan comments:
“Natalie danced her a– off,” says Kunis. “I think it’s unfortunate that this is coming out and taking attention away from [the praise] Natalie deserved and got.”
Kunis also says Portman has been honest about how much of the demanding footwork she was — and wasn’t — able to do. “She’ll tell you [that], no, she was not on pointe when she did a fouetté [turn]. No one’s going to deny that. But she did do every ounce of every one of her dances,” she says. “[Lane] wasn’t used for everything. It was more like a safety net. If Nat wasn’t able to do something, you’d have a safety net. The same thing that I had — I had a double as a safety net. We all did. No one ever denied it.”
Mila Kunis defends Natalie Portman in 'Black Swan' controversy | Inside Movies | EW.com
 

pklongbeach

Active member
I think the "safty net" analogy is the correct answer.
Likely, they shot the double doing everything that the charactor was supposed to do "shot for shot". And it seems obvious that when it was time to edit the film, they were actually able to use quite a bit of Natalie afterall.
So the double may be aware that she had to learn, dance and shot every sequence but that does not mean she is the person in the shots.
If it got ugly I think it could be proven with out a doubt, so the dancer should probably just qhite while she has not made a complete a.. of herself.
"Directors are watching"!
 

epicamends

New member
I think the "safty net" analogy is the correct answer.
Likely, they shot the double doing everything that the charactor was supposed to do "shot for shot". And it seems obvious that when it was time to edit the film, they were actually able to use quite a bit of Natalie afterall.
So the double may be aware that she had to learn, dance and shot every sequence but that does not mean she is the person in the shots.
If it got ugly I think it could be proven with out a doubt, so the dancer should probably just qhite while she has not made a complete a.. of herself.
"Directors are watching"!

Exactly. That's why I trust the people who were in the editing room every day putting the film together. Sarah may indeed have done and shot a lot of dancing on set, but that doesn't mean those shots in the film are her. They may have been able to use much more of the shots of Natalie dancing than they originally thought they could. Portman, Aronofsky, and Kunis have never claimed that every single dance shot in the film was Natalie. There's even footage on the DVD that shows the face replacement Aronofsky mentioned.

It's to be expected that a double would be used for the more complicated dances that no non-professional dancer would ever be able to learn in just one year of training. Sarah Lane did not sign on to be the star of the film, she signed on to be the star's dance double. People are claiming she was only credited as a hand model in the end credits, but that's not true. She was also credited as Natalie Portman's stunt double and dance double, which is exactly what she was, so I don't see what the problem is.
 

bigbluegrl23

Active member
Exactly. That's why I trust the people who were in the editing room every day putting the film together. Sarah may indeed have done and shot a lot of dancing on set, but that doesn't mean those shots in the film are her. They may have been able to use much more of the shots of Natalie dancing than they originally thought they could. Portman, Aronofsky, and Kunis have never claimed that every single dance shot in the film was Natalie. There's even footage on the DVD that shows the face replacement Aronofsky mentioned.

It's to be expected that a double would be used for the more complicated dances that no non-professional dancer would ever be able to learn in just one year of training. Sarah Lane did not sign on to be the star of the film, she signed on to be the star's dance double. People are claiming she was only credited as a hand model in the end credits, but that's not true. She was also credited as Natalie Portman's stunt double and dance double, which is exactly what she was, so I don't see what the problem is.

seriously, its like what does she expect is gonna happen if she keeps on with this? does she think the oscar will b handed to her instead? no haha. she won't become more famous at all, america loves natalie and this film so does she really think people would just turn against them haha. all this does is make future director or employers wanna stay away from her melodrama. and even if she was "betrayed" which i seriously doubt, holding your head up is always the best way to go.
becca T
 

Kizmet311

Active member
I think it's ridiculous, really. I didn't pay attention to the movie credits, but I think some were saying Natalie should have thanked her double in her Oscar speech. I don't think so necessarily - the double did what she was hired to do and Natalie worked her butt off to become as good as she did and to do everything she could do without a double. You don't hear action movie stars constantly thanking or talking about their doubles that do the most dangerous stunts and probably risk their life to do them. You do your job and be professional about it. Besides - while the beautiful dancing contributed to the film and the story obviously - it was Natalie's incredible acting skills as a dancer having a psychotic break that won her that Oscar.
 

Grace_Of_God

New member
Sarah Lane needs to...stfu. Sorry. Shes trying very hard to get her 15 minutes. You got paid, you got a credit. You got what you deserved. Now shut your mouth and stop trying to take away what Natalie did. Hollywoods all about your reputation and you my dear just shot yourself in the foot if you ever expect to work again
 

Carrieflattsfan

New member
I haven't seen "Black Swan," but I now respect Natalie so much more for being classy and keeping her mouth shut after this nut has tried to drag her through the mud.
Too bad she's too busy being a hyprocrite to notice she should do the same.
 

pkc4rls

Active member
I think it's ridiculous, really. I didn't pay attention to the movie credits, but I think some were saying Natalie should have thanked her double in her Oscar speech. I don't think so necessarily - the double did what she was hired to do and Natalie worked her butt off to become as good as she did and to do everything she could do without a double. You don't hear action movie stars constantly thanking or talking about their doubles that do the most dangerous stunts and probably risk their life to do them. You do your job and be professional about it. Besides - while the beautiful dancing contributed to the film and the story obviously - it was Natalie's incredible acting skills as a dancer having a psychotic break that won her that Oscar.

I agree with the bolded part. I mean, in all honesty who gets an oscar for just dancing. Yes, people that love ballet or that are in it might go partly for the ballet but for some of us others, I hardly remember the dancing now in all honesty. I was too busy watching that psycho crazy performance, LOL, which I told JB ,when the movie came up in another thread, kind of gave me the creeps, LOL. But because she was so convincing at being psychotic, she deserved the Oscar for it. lol, and again, I agree, it was for her acting and not for the dancing.

These people are at first glad to have a job and then when the picture is big, they complain that they did not get enough credit for their "stunts." I mean, give me a break, the studios do hire someone they think can pass as that person and fool the audience when that stunt person is in there. Of course they don't want to make a point of people knowing every scene the double is in for the actor because it kind of takes away from the movie in their eyes, and that is normal. And almost no actor thanks their stunt double or body double. Why would they - again, because they are not getting the Oscar primarily for the dancing or stunts or whatever. And honestly, it does not matter how much the stunt double did in it, even if every dance scene. They are not the actor but are there, quite frankly, to make everyone think the actor is doing it all and get paid to do that. Now, if there was a dispute simply over not getting the money she was due or owed, that is one thing but to me, there is no requirement to give them all this special recognition, just because the movie became a hit. They got paid to be a double and not BE the actor.

You see this quit often though. I remember watching something where they were showing the doubles complaining for the original FOOTLOOSE and for the old movie FLASHDANCE (both of which became big hits) and how they did not get enough credit, blah, blah. All a double is going to get is money and mention in the credits and that is all that is intended. If they want to get recognized as an actor and have their name in "lights," go try out for acting parts.
 

supercarriefan

New member
Sara needs to quit talking because she's only making herself look bad. She may have a bigger beef with Natalie, though, than just the dancing. I seem to remember reading somewhere that Sara is friends with Natalie's fiance's ex. Natalie's fiance supposedly left his ex for Natalie while filming. Perhaps Sara is just trying to get some revenge on behalf of her friend...either way she isn't acting in a very classy way. Natalie, on the other hand, is being a class act about the whole thing. Good for her...she will continue to work in lots of films and Sara will not.
 
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