If you haven't been paying attention (and congratulations if you haven't), Natalie Portman's body double in Black Swan has called up some journalists to complain that she's the one who did all that dancing. Wait a minute, Natalie Portman didn't do all of her own dancing?! Obviously, there's an Oscar to be returned.
Maybe we should tell this dancer (whose name I can't bring myself to Google) that those aren't actually spaceships in Star Wars either. That's because movie making is make-believe. That's right, Green Swan, you and a bunch of other people got together to create an illusion for the audience. And here's a little secret... the audience knows it's an illusion. They have paid to experience the illusion, their daughters lined up to experience it several times, and their sons have illegally downloaded at least one scene from that illusion to experience in the privacy of their bathroom.
Though I have nothing to do with Black Swan I'm going to take it upon myself to explain your part in the filmmaking process. You were not cast, you were hired. There is a difference. When you're cast it means you're going to become someone else for the life of the movie, a character that the audience accepts as a real person for the two hours spent immersed in the illusion. When you're hired as a body double and dancer your job is important, but significantly different. Rather than create the illusion that you are someone else, your job is to create the illusion that someone else is someone else. You're there to support and enhance the actor in creating her illusion. Just like a stuntman. Believe it or not, Paul Newman and Robert Redford didn't really jump off that cliff in Butch and Sundance. I didn't hear their stuntmen call up Entertainment Weekly and whine that they didn't get enough attention. To paraphrase Hyman Roth to Michael Corleone, "This is the business you've chosen."
P.S. - Here's a quote by Natalie Portman during the press tour: "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."
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That she admitted she didn't do 100% is part of the selling of the movie, by making her appear to be sweet and down-to-earth. If the studio wanted, they'd lock her into a contract stating that she'd claim all dancing was hers, and lock the real dancer into a contract stating that she'd keep her mouth shut.
Natalie did work hard, but for the studio or director to imply she was able to do what SARAH LANE can do is just wrong on so many levels. I'm not downing Natalie's role in the movie, she did a good job. I just think the studio should show Sarah Lane's original dance shots in any of the shots used in the behind the scenes "special effects" videos. WHICH THEY DIDN'T and MADE IT LOOK LIKE NATALIE DEFINITELY DANCED THOSE SCENES. IT'S JUST WRONG!!!
Yes, every actor who portrays an artist or a skilled pro uses a double. But there's a way to be classy about it. When I watch The soloist, I know ,without anyone explaining it to me, that Jaimie Fox did some training for the cello but didn't really play all the pieces.But it would have been very annoying at the time if he did the media round claiming his fingers bled on the cello. He was smart enough to avoid the over the top hyping of his performance (in a not so good movie, I agree), well Ms Portman was not.
I haven't scene what is on the DVD features but I hope it shows who was really dancing.
And yes Natalie won for ACTING, good thing too cause her real dancing was not so good.
Portman's people are saying she did 85% of the dancing which is ludicrous.
There are probably some folks who are more interested in actual ballet after seeing the film.
Maybe they'll even buy a ticket to see the wonderful Sarah Lane dance for real!
When I read her complaint, I got the feeling that she wanted a tag line to run under Natalie Portman's name that read, "90% of the dancing done by ............"
Oh well, I'm sure that after this, she won't have to worry about her screen credit on any other movie.