Natalie Portman is a toe-shoe-in for an Oscar nomination for her performance as a ballerina in Black Swan, and she worked her ass off for it. Or rather she worked her ass bigger.
Working out eight hours at a time. Swimming a mile a day. Dancing despite bruised feet, aching muscles, and a displaced rib. Natalie Portman didn’t take the easy road in preparing to play ambitious ballerina Nina Sayers in Black Swan. But the 29-year-old actress says there was no other option. “So many of the emotional scenes happen while she’s dancing that there was no real way of getting around it,” explains Portman, whose character suffers a mind-bending nervous breakdown while rehearsing to dance the lead in a glitzy production of Swan Lake.
[Entertainment Weekly, print edition, November 19, 2010]
Although Portman did use a double for some of the more complicated choreography, she still had to look the part of a ballerina.
Portman says that not eating — or, rather, eating very little — is an essential part of a dancer’s lifestyle. “I’m a very short person, and you’re supposed to look very long,” she explains. “And you don’t have the bulk on you — which is, like, sick. The whole thing, I’m aware that it’s sick.”
…For the record, not all of Portman got smaller while training. “Dancers, even when they’re really frailly skinny, have a very strong butt. So Mary Helen [former New York City Ballet company member Mary Helen Bowers] did a lot of work on my butt,” she giggles. The result? “Definitely a huge, huge, um…change.”
[Entertainment Weekly, print edition, November 19, 2010]
Playing the part also dispelled any illusions Natalie had about the glamour of being a ballerina.
“[Being a dancer] was a childhood dream. Then when I got to try it, it kind of erased the illusion that ballet is this easy, beautiful, light thing. It’s quite the opposite. It takes discipline and hard work and pain….It’s more competitive [than Hollywood]. It’s smaller, so there are even fewer spots to fill. And it takes physical perfection.”
[Us Weekly, print edition, December 6, 2010]
Off screen, Portman is quietly dating choreographer Benjamin Millepied, 33, who can currently be seen in print ads for Gap.
Director Darren Aronofsky, who may also get an Oscar nod, recently lost his partner Rachel Weisz to James Bond actor Daniel Craig.
I doubt I’ll see this film; it’s not my cup of tea, but (Star Wars notwithstanding) I think Natalie is a good actress and seems relatively grounded for a child-actor-turned-movie-star. Plus she’s vegetarian and launched a line of vegan shoes, which is cool.
Black Swan opens December 3.
Eh, she peeves me very much. Something about her just screams “I’m better than you!”, and judgemental. She’s an okay actress, the only thing I liked her in was V for Vendetta. But, she does have a good fashion sense, even if she is a bit ignorant.
I probably won’t be seeing this film either.
You really SHOULD see this film because it is dramatic, fascinating and quite filled with good performances. It is intense, sure, but also understandable. Granted, Eat Pray Love, it ain’t.
Don’t have a closed mind: at least TRY to see it. Give it half an hour!
Also, Barbara Hershey’s performance as Portman’s mother is fantastic, and very similar to Ellen Burstyn’s in Requiem For A Dream.
Wow, I can’t believe people are so easily turned off what is a beautiful looking film. A little bit of challenge and y’all run for Transformers. Wow.
I’d like to see it. I’m a fan of Aronofsky’s films. Portman is a great actress.
I’m surprised that people have such a romanticized view of ballet dancers and the hard work they put into training for their craft. But I guess if they make it look easy, that must mean that they have trained hard enough to create such an illusion.
meh, I’ll wait for cable, tired of trials and tributes stories and the ‘poor anorexic bimbo that had to endure starving’…don’t they do that for a living anyway? boo hoo
I’ll probably see it, but not in theatres. I haven’t been to a theatre since before the baby was born.
Anyone who has ever danced knows it’s not easy. It takes hours upon hours of practise, and it is definitely painful.
I CANNOT wait to see this on Friday, I will be in the theatre…I have waited sooo long to see this..
LOVE Natalie and I cannot wait to see her take a bite out of this role.
thx for posting this.
@Bellaluna- I haven’t actually paid to see a movie since my dad took me to see Avatar last Christmas. Before that, I hadn’t been to a movie theater in years.
Besides everything being so expensive, I am not into people coughing on me, people acting rude and talking throughout the movie. I usually just watch online, wait for movies on the movie channels, rent or watch PPV. I may not see things the day they come out, but I really don’t have to.
I will be anxious to see this. I love Aronofsky.
@ devilgirl – I know, right? The only reason I went to see those 2 movies in the theatre is because my teenage son & hubby insisted that they HAD to be seen in the theatre!
I also don’t have patience for those rude parents who insist on bringing baby/toddler to a movie that’s completely inappropriate for that age. Hire a freakin’ babysitter or put in on your Netflix!
I cant WAIT to see this movie. It seems like its been on the verge of opening FOREVER. I think they kept pushing the release date back didnt they?
anyway, it looks intense and like a complete mind-f#ck, so Im stoked about this. love aranofsky too, and I cant believe weiss dumped a genius for a garden gnome.
Wonder if Rachel will be running back to Aaron so she can be part of the Oscar success? Kind of like girls in high school who make sure they have a boyfriend for the prom. LOL
I really want to see this too. I love to watch ballet and I remember when I was younger reading some crazy books about the competitive dancers and divas behind the scenes. Love it.
I don’t get it. To me Natalie Portman, although beautiful, is an absolutely HORRIBLE actress, stiff and wooden with a propensity to fade in and out of a fake British accent at weird times. Despite her beauty, she is completely unwatchable to me.
Why is it some think she is a great actress? Is it the snob appeal of her having gone to Harvard? Brains doesn’t necessarily equal acting talent.
Maybe it’s because she’s brunette. The public seems eager to denounce bad acting in blondes but hesitant to do so in brunettes. But I have to say, not only Meryl Streep, but even Pamela Anderson (heck even the late Anna Nicole Smith!) can act circles around Natalie Portman. I consider Natalie Portman to be the Jaclyn Smith or her generation: a gorgeous brunette who is completely lifeless on screen. Actually, I bet even Jaclyn Smith would have had the good taste not to be seen speaking in that stilted on again/off again fake British accent in those horrible Star Wars prequels.
Oh come on, this film is the reason why she never eats and got so thin? She was so skinny in V that it was disgusting. She is overrated as an actress. I guess married man peen is the only thing on the menu for her.
Natalie Portman is a staunch defender of Roman Polanski, the man who rear ended a 13 yr old girl back in the 70s. Roman would probably find her enhanced rump attractive. I wonder if Natalie would want the same treatment that he gave the 13 yr old. I doubt it.
Not a fan of Portman for a variety of reasons, but I am very familiar with the life of a dancer and am impressed that she really deceided to live the life of ripped and bleeding toes.