Natalie Portman Danced Only 5% Of Black Swan: Annette Bening 11% In Love With Julianne Moore
HOW much of the dancing did Nathalie Portman do in Black Swan, a performance that earned her an Oscar?
Says Sarah Lane, 27, an American Ballet Theatre soloist whose body and feet were featured in the film, while her head was replaced by Portman’s:
“Of the full body shots, I would say 5 percent are Natalie. All the other shots are me.”
Benjamin Millepied, Portman’s fiancé and Black Swan choreographer, says:
“There are articles now talking about her dance double [American Ballet Theatre dancer Sarah Lane] that are making it sound like [Lane] did a lot of the work, but really, she just did the footwork, and the fouettés, and one diagonal [phrase] in the studio. Honestly, 85 percent of that movie is Natalie.”
That’s quite some divergence in data, isn’t it. If Portman only did 5% of the dancing, the sensational news that an actress could dance like a top ballerina after a year’s intensive study seems more hype than fact.
The hidden coterie of film types who vote on the Oscars winners may like to punch in the data to their big computer and work out if 5% of ballet should still defeat Annette Bening, who has now been nominated four times for an Oscar and lost each time, most recently to Portman.
They should consider what percentage of Bening really did love Julianne Moore in Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids Are All Right. If it’s more than 5%, Bening may have a case for a re-vote…
Posted: 26th, March 2011 | In: Film Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
