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Sarah Lane vs. Natalie Portman in 'Black Swan': Mila Kunis weighs in
Just in time for the DVD release of "Black Swan," it appears that the only person left to weigh in on this whole "how-much-did-Natalie-Portman-actually-dance" situation is Portman herself. Mila Kunis spoke with Entertainment Weekly regarding Sarah Lane's allegations against the Academy Award winning actress. Lane has vocalized her displeasure with the public misconception that Portman gained the skills necessary to become a professional dancer in just over a year, saying that "Of the full body shots, I would say 5% are Natalie."
"Natalie danced her a** off," Kunis says. "I think it's unfortunate that this is coming out and taking attention away from [the praise] Natalie deserved and got."
Kunis continues to say that Portman never tried to give the impression that she didn't receive help.
"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," Kunis explains. "[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."
Seems like a fair point to us, though perhaps Lane did deserve at least a little bit of recognition during Portman's whirlwind award season. A simple thanks could have done wonders.
How much of the actual dancing Portman did or didn't do has been up for debate, with her fiance Benjamin Millepied saying, "Honestly, 85% of that movie is Natalie." Director Darren Aronofsky went for a more technical evaluation, though.
"I had my editor count. There are 139 dance shots in the film. 111 are Natalie untouched. 28 are her dance double Sarah Lane," he says. "If you do the math that's 80% Natalie Portman. 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."
Fans appear to have split opinions on Lane. For her one "5%" comment, she's also praised Portman's performance many times and says she only wants the profession of dancing to be taken more seriously.
Maybe she deserved more recognition, maybe she didn't, but we don't think there's anyone who believes an actor would be able to transform to a professional dancer that quickly. That's the magic of movies and unfortunately, falling into the shadows is the price one pays as a body double.
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did this double honestly think just because the movie was about ballet that she would get a lot of recognition? No! Does she deserve some? Yes, but I'm gonna side with Natalie on this one. She's one of the most humble and talented actors in the business and during the publicity for the film even told of having a double for some of the dancing.
Totally agree Rachel. I don't side with actors on anything on a normal day. But this LANE double was hired for a job, AND SHE WAS PAID FOR IT. FUNNY, YOU DON'T HEAR STUNT-DOUBLES IN ACTION FILMS COMPLAINING........BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT THEY ARE PAID TO DO!!!!!!!! If you want recognition MS. LANE, then maybe you should have auditioned for the lead!!!!!!! SARAH LANE, TAKE YOUR PAYCHECK AND SHUT IT. The fact that Sarah Lane got the lead double in an Oscar-Winning film is something most could only dream of. It can ONLY HELP her career, instead of side-stepping it, AS SHE CLAIMS. People like Sarah Lane in my business don't get called back. sometimes it's a respect thing, not a talent thing.
Portman should have at least thanked her. It would have been the classy thing to do.
I don’t get it Why is it so hard to say. THANK YOU for professional and beautiful dance because of the movie is better. It wouldn’t have any issue because Natalie played her role awesome, she’s great actress which she prove many times in her films.. But the move makers must also make Natalie next real ballerina saying she’d learnt something which another dancers takes years and years of hard work.
Creating the Story of how much Portman trained and how difficult and grueling it all was, all to foster the illusion that she was so talented, smart, and determined that it was possible for her to master such advanced technique in such a short time ….
Ballerina’s dance include whole body part, not just upper body - waving head and arms..
In the movie dance has some part – beautiful part ;-) Give credit to dancer – she deserves it – as an artist. Ballet is a form of ART.
For ex.. If they take Santana to play guitar somewhere in the background, in the black corner, would they treat him in the end the same – like not important thing, not worth to mention – hand model. Sarah’s also an artist – she’d worked hard to be ballerina many years. (according to wikipedia she won many competitions, and perform at national theater)
It’s incredible how one artist can treat another artist borrow her talent, exactly treated like owns and do not even say Thank you.
PS. She's not some person waiting at street in movie or double in action movie. The Dance was importent for leader character, it trigger her psychosis.
It's a weird situation, but we can all agree that Portman did 100% of the acting and that's why she won the Oscar.