The rumors keep swirling that Natalie Portman didn’t do much of her own dancing in BLACK SWAN, yet it seems like everyone else in the movie is coming to her defense.
Portman’s co-star, Mila Kunis is now speaking out, saying that the actress deserves recognition for her hard work in the film’s dance numbers:
“Natalie danced her a** off. I think it’s unfortunate that this is coming out and taking attention away from [the praise] Natalie deserved and got.”
Kunis says that for such complicated routines, you need a safety net sometimes, but that is all it was for anybody:
“[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.”
Last week, dancer Sarah Lane, a soloist with the American Ballet Theatre, claimed that she had provided most of the footwork for which Portman was credited, saying:
“Of the full body shots, I would say 5 percent are Natalie…All the other shots are me.”
During the film’s production, Portman admitted,
“I do have a double for the complicated turning stuff. It was not anything I ever could have done in a year, nothing I could’ve caught up with. But I think it was just better for all of us if I did as much as possible.”
Director Darren Aronofsky also spoke out, saying:
“There are 139 dance shots in the film. 111 are Natalie Portman untouched. 28 are her dance double Sarah Lane. … 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.”
Three against one…the question is how much work do YOU think Portman did, and is this just a stunt by Lane to try and get more fame…?