Oooh, I’m sorry I didn’t see this earlier! USA Today got the first images from Darren Aronofsky’s new films The Black Swan. The Black Swan stars Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel (swoon), and it’s the film where Natalie met her gorgeous ballet-dancing lover, Benjamin Millepied. Aren’t these images f-cking cool? Natalie looks amazing! USA Today had a preview:
The Venice International Film Festival apparently can’t get enough of Darren Aronofsky, even if he has switched his focus from muscle-bound men to dainty dancers.
The director took home a Golden Lion, the event’s top prize, for The Wrestler in 2008. Now he has been given the honor of opening this year’s 11-day event on Sept. 1 with Black Swan, a ballet-themed thriller due in late fall. “The cast and crew of Black Swan are both excited and humbled by the selection committee’s invitation,” Aronofsky said in a press announcement. “It is an honor to walk the great red carpet on the Lido, and we are excited to premiere our film to the wonderful audiences in Venice.”
The dark tale with psychological twists stars Natalie Portman as Nina, a technically brilliant ballerina whose life takes some strange turns after being picked as the lead in a New York City production of Swan Lake. Pressures mount as her overbearing mother (Barbara Hershey) pushes her to succeed and her manipulative dance master (Vincent Cassel) commands her to be more seductive and loose in her performance.
Complicating matters is the arrival of Lily (Mila Kunis), a sultry dancer who exhibits all the innate ease and sexuality that Nina lacks. Nina begins to fixate on the newcomer as the two forge an unusual relationship.
“The worldwide attention given to the Venice film festival provides an exciting launch for Black Swan,” says Nancy Utley, president of Fox Searchlight. “We are very proud of our collaboration with Darren.”
After its premiere in Venice, The Wrestler went on to awards season glory, earning actor Mickey Rourke his first Oscar nomination and a chance at a career comeback. Fox Searchlight, which bought The Wrestler at the Toronto film festival after its Venice success, has similar hopes for Black Swan— and especially for Portman, who was nominated for an Oscar for her supporting part in 2004’s Closer.
As the actress tells USA TODAY about her troubled Nina: “The character was very interesting to play, always challenging and surprising. The fact that I had spent so much time with the idea — Darren and I started discussing doing the film in 2000 — allowed it to marinate a little before we shot.”
[From USA Today]
I generally find Aronofsky’s films to be hit-or-miss – I think he’s a self-indulgent director, and not all of his tricks benefit the story, sometimes it’s just something “cool” he wants to do. That being said, I think The Black Swan looks awesome. I’m going to see it – mainly for Vincent Cassel.
Here are some additional photos of the hot men:
The Black Swan photos, courtesy of USA Today.
I’m not a fan of Natalie Portman, but this looks really good. I want to see it.
This is def a must watch for me, just based on the appearance of Vincent Cassel.
Sorry about the dbl post. : (
Man, did she win the genetic lottery: beautiful, smart and talented. Damn.
that top shot is grotesque, but the one below it beautiful. weird.
This looks AWESOME! Darren Aronofsky is one of my favourite directors. I actually don’t like Requiem For A Dream at all, but The Fountain is in my top 3 films of all time. And I love Natalie Portman and ballet, so I really can’t wait for this!
VERY excited about this movie!
love cassel. isnt he married to monica belluci?
She is lovely.
She also whole-heartedly supported Roman Polanski’s release.
This looks very good or very bad. I think the ballet storyline is throwig me off.
Aronofsky is an amazing director. The Fountain is probably the saddest, most touching, most memorable movie I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. And I hope this means that Clint Mansell will be doing the music, because I know they usually collaborate.
I am so looking forward to seeing this movie! I love the black tutu and makeup on Natalie, beautiful but a bit weird, which is what I expect the movie to be like.
Wow, that was weird. I had two posts and the one where I commented got deleted-
Anyway, cannot wait to see this. I love everything Aronofsky does.
Natalie Portman is a terrible actress. Her line readings are wooden and sometimes downright laughable. She can’t do accents. Lucky for her, people think she’s so pretty, they don’t notice.
I’m not a fan of hers or ballet but this sounds really good, I’ll watch it.
Now I know what to wear to work tomorrow (Casual Friday be damned).
Hmm…I’d see it for Mila before I’d see it for her. I’ve never been a big fan of hers, and the Polanksi thing definitely didn’t help! She seems to take herself awfully seriously.
I tend to think that a good comedic actor can usually do well with drama as well–if you can make people laugh, you can pretty much have your way with all of their emotions, IMO. It will be interesting to see how Mila does in this.
Natalie Portman is another one that triggers my gag reflex, however, Vincent Cassel is a hot piece and I am excited to see Mila Kunis’ career doing well. I’m in!
I don’t care much for natalie’s acting but I can’t wait to see this movie. I like Cassel’s looks….he has got character to his face.
I will totally see this for Mila. She is one of the nicest, most genuine women around. Natalie, not so much.
@ #9…It almost sounds as if you also supported Polanski’s release…Hope it just sounds like that.
Aaah! That first picture scared the crap outta me…Not pretty at ALL. Grotesque was definitely the appropriate word choice, haha.
i agree with the assessment of her acting as “wooden.” i don’t understand the “closer” nomination at ALL, pretty much my only real impression of her from that film is where she’s stripping on top of a table for clive whatsisface and she bends over at his request to bust out the full mont-ette right in his face. yeah it was oscarworthy, people. pure drama.
anyway i kind of have to see this flick tho. i dig the ballet thing and yeah
she looks the part completely.
Ballet, Mila, Vincent, Natalie – where do I line up?
She’s beautiful, it will probably be a great movie. unfortunately I will not watch it because I am personally boycotting the people who support Roman Polanski’s release.
I think the first pic with the red eyes is creepy.
The guy is hot.
@ Thincabout it & Leticia
You know who else defended Roman Polanski’…..
Johnny Depp
After that the hotness factor was out the window for me.
I am so looking forward to seeing this one.
I don’t rate this woman as an actress. She comes across very full of herself and annoying but without the acting range to back it up. However, I love Mila Kunis and have loved Vincent since La Haine….
I’ll watch it when it comes out on Sky… =P
Not a big fan of Natalie, I think she is over rated and full of herself, as others have already stated. Also, I did not appreciate her support of Polanski, the child rapist. The photos above are striking, however. Does she have any classical ballet training? Not sure if she can pull it off without the training. Does Mila Kunis, for that matter?
Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Winona Ryder. Whoa! Wanna see it now.
This does look good. Love Aronofsky.
I totally find Jessica Simpson more appealing than Natalie Portman and I majorly enjoyed Dukes of Hazzard, though Grandma says the original show which was in the eighties was better than the movie. Her favorite Duke dude is Uncle Jesse.
i don’t really think she is a good actor, i saw brothers and her performance was really not believable. am i the only one who thinks she is overrated?
“Closer” could have been such a good film! Clive Owen and Jude Law were excellent, but Julia Roberts was miscast and Natalie Portman was just awful. She got an Oscar nomination for bending over in Clive Owen’s face and saying, “My name is Jane.”
meg griffin in a tutu?!?
my boyfriend just went to the bathroom.
lol 🙂
The top photo looks wrong somehow, as she has no whites to her eyes at the edge near the cheekbones. It looks looks like they altered her eyes to make them smaller by cutting off the outer edges. Not because of the contact lenses, but just a misshapen eyelid. Ick. It makes them look beady. I guess a bird’s eyes are beady.
Also you can tell in the other photos that she has lovely almond-shaped eyes the rest of the time.
wtf the firt image scared the shit out of me!
@ Ycnan – I think she’s a great actress but was miscast in Brothers. She brought a lot to the role, it just wasn’t beleivable that she was this simple, home-grown girl, stay at home mom.
This movie makes me nervous. I am a huge ballet fan and worry that it will do it a dis-service. Although the casting of Benjamin Millepied (and he has also choreographed) gives me a little hope.
@ poster no. 28 (can’t see your name, sorry) – yes she took ballet as a child , up to her early teens. Mila and her went into hardcore ballet training for this movie. It’s still always so obvious though when a “civilian” – as it were – attempts a role as a ballet dancer. I imagine there will be lots of close ups of face and legs, and no full-body shots!
Didn’t they use CG to superimpose Cate Blanchett’s face on a real ballerina’s body for scenes in “Benjamin Button”? I would imagine they’ve done the same thing here — because no matter how hard-core Natalie and Mila’s training was, there’s no way they could ever dance like a professional prima ballerina.
Natalie is a terribly overrated actor. I agree with others who’ve said she’s wooden, and I can’t stand her monotone delivery. But Hollywood loves a tiny, fragile-looking, elfin beauty with big doe eyes and an Ivy-league education!
Natalie is overrated. Shes beautiful, Shes a good actres but not GREAT. She seems full of herself. The Polanski thing turned me off too.
Can Mila Kunis really act? Idk. I saw Extract and Book of Eli. Not impressed or convinced yet. How is she getting so many roles lately? That movie of hers with justin Timberlake is gonna suck. Hes a horrible actor.
whatever.
Ill watch for WINONA. I want her to make a comeback so so bad. Winona forever!
Oooh this looks good. Love me some dancing men.
I have the maddest girl crush on Mila Kunis! I’m actually excited to see this movie.
Siouxsie Sioux anyone?? 🙂
Can’t stand Natalie Portman. Anyone who supported Roman Polanski is boycotted (Martin Scorcese, Woody Allen, Penelope Cruz, Johnny Depp, etc) Also, she’s a total bore of an actress and thoroughly unlikable in interviews. Full list of Roman Polanski petition signers: http://www.popcrunch.com/celebrities-support-polanski/
Looks good but yeah I’m trying to boycott Polanski supporters too. I could live without Depp and others but sure love me some Marty Scorsese.
Natalie Portman is definitely overrated. her acting is wooden, monotone, and boring. Why she is such an indie darling is totally beyond me.
aw vincent… what a man, what an actor!
She doesn’t look athletic enough to be a real ballet dancer – she just looks thin. Her legs look like an ordinary thin woman’s legs, and you can tell from her posture in the tutu picture, from her body and the way she holds herself, that she is someone pretending to be a ‘ballerina’. I’m sure there are plenty of amazing dancers who can also act out there, waiting to be made into stars with a great role. Wish directors would take more chances on unknowns. Will rent the DVD of The Red Shoes with Moira Shearer instead of seeing this.
Delighted to see I’m not the only one who thought Natalie Portman stinks in the awful Black Swan. Frigid repressed acting is probably about the measure of her range and she didn’t even change her emotions when she discovered her ‘black swan’ personality.
Also agree about Cassel who was terrific even in a hackneyed cliché of a role as a tyrannical director who wears his heart on sleeve.