‘Black Swan’ Controversy Over Portman’s Involvement
On March 23rd the LA Times published an article in which Natalie Portman’s fiance, and lead choreographer for Black Swan Benjamin Millepied, remarked on how much of the dancing in the film was done by Portman herself. He estimated it to be around 85% of what we actually see in the film. Did ballerina and Portman dancing double Sarah Lane take kindly to this? She sure didn’t. Today, she told EW that the full body shots we see on screen were more like 5% Portman, with most of the shots consisting of Lane’s body with Portman’s face digitally imposed onto it. You can imagine it being a kick in the teeth when members of the crew, such as Millepied, attempt to play down your role in a film. Indeed, she was only credited with the titles ‘Hand Model’ and ‘Stunt Double’. Maybe ‘Main Dancer’ would have been more apt.
However, this is not the end to the controversy. Sarah Lane claims she was asked by producer Ari Handel not to talk about the film to the public, even though she was not contractually bound to do so. Even the leading lady herself appears to be covering up Lane’s involvement. In an interview with EW Portman stated “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.” It seems she is attempting to take credit where it is not due. There has so far been no comment from those Lane accuses of messing her around.
So what do you think? Would you agree that Lane should have been recognized for the work she put in or are you of the opinion that it is a benefit to the audience that we believe Natalie Portman is really dancing? Does the audience need this belief in Portman’s abilities to enjoy the film? Lane claims she is not publicizing her story out of jealousy for the leading lady, but in my opinion she is right to seek the credit she deserves.
21 Comments
Too little, too late.
She knew she wasn’t getting top billing for being a double and Natalie won the Oscar for acting and pretending she could dance, not for being a ballerina.
I bought it and so did all the award bodies.
This lady just wants attention.
Well if she is just correcting an outright lie, I can’t really reproach her for coming forward. 85% and 5% are pretty far apart after all
I think we should get away from not giving credit to people in the background. It takes many people to pull off a great film and most of them are not on camera. That being said though, I must question her 85% comment. It’s obvious Portman worked hard to make her role as believable as possible and you know you’re job when you’re hired. She knew it was to make the star look good. I would think she’d get more work in the future by shutting her trap instead of “exposing” this huge secret that Portman was able to transform herself into a prima ballerina in a year and half.
nothing more i can say but..so true!
there are award giving bodies for those behind the scene who made the stars look good. she should have waited for that if she wants to hear praises from the public.
Natalie Portman could have done just 0.5% of the dancing herself, she got the Oscar and other awards for her ACTING.
Atte:
AMPAS member
Totally agree John but I think the issue is quite unrelated to the fact that she got an Oscar. I certainly could care less whether Portman even did any of the dancing, it would still be a phenomenal performance but credit should still go the people who (allegedly) did the work.
I agree with Castor for this one.
Portman won the Oscar for her acting but her fiance should not say something like that, he should give credit to her double. 85% and 5% is indeed so far apart
There is one possibility that you don’t seem to be considering Jack: that this woman is lying. It wouldn’t be all that surprising if she was just trying to further her career or make a quick buck riding the coat-tails of others. Of course I believe she has the right to be credited for the work she did, but as of right now it’s just her word against the words of several others.
I will say, if Portman did only do 5% of the dancing, she should just admit it. Her performance was excellent irrespective of the ballet.
Well, the movie isn’t about the dancing, rather, it’s about the fictitious dancer. As some one previously mentioned(and Natalie herself mentioned some in her speech), there are far more people who will be forever disregarded that actually contribute way more to films.
I’m sure most people who saw it didn’t go for the dancing. As an example, I went because I like watching people go crazy.
I’m still confused as to why this is being considered news. The world of ballet is difficult, and doing what was done in the film from a dancing standpoint would have taken years upon years of practice. Additionally, much of Portman’s dancing is recorded from the waist up.
Either way, I think Portman would have won the Oscar.
I’m not sure why anyone would be surprised that Portman didn’t do much of the dancing herself. It’s pretty obvious that NO ONE could have got to that level of ballet so quickly, and so obviously there was a double doing it for her.
I agree that we should never play down the work that people in the background have put in, and if there was an intentional, malicious “stealing” of credit from Lane, then that’s wrong. And I agree that she should have had a bigger credit than “Hand Model” and “Stunt Double”.
But personally, I don’t really see that anyone was purposely trying to pretend Portman did most/all her own dancing. Portman herself just said it was better if she “did as much as possible”. And no matter what Millepied said, I kind of don’t take such “it was __% of the film” comments seriously unless it was said by the editor/director or someone who was really involved in the post-prod work.
When someone just watches the film and guesses (of course, here I’m assuming that Millepied didn’t witness much of the post-production editing/grafting Portman’s head on Lane’s body, etc.), it’s easy to go really far off the mark, especially if the guy was talking off the top of his head – small moments can become magnified to seem like much more of the film than it really is, and vice versa.
I disliked this silly film intently, but I could at least acknowledge the effort Portman put in to the ballet. If that turns out not to be the case, I’m not sure how anyone could have nominated her for best actress in such a movie.
Because her performance is excellent. Whether or not Lane did more of the dancing is totally besides the point, since Portman’s awards relate to acting rather than her dancing.
Guess we’ll have to disagree on that one, then.
I find it amusing that this story comes out just in time for the movie’s DVD release. Nothing like reminding the public of a movie’s existence at appropriate moments, eh?
Nothing to see here. I suppose it would have made sense to just give credit where it’s due if this is indeed the case. I am pretty sure the world would not be rocked upon the revelation that Portman did not do the majority of her dancing.
I can’t imagine how this little tidbit has anything to do with anything. people are just trying to invalidate her well-deserved oscar win which is not only distasteful, but hateful. they all just need to sit down.
This is ridiculous. In the first place, and as has been covered in numerous online publications, Portman has acknowledged her body double in the past (in an interview with EW, to be specific). Admittedly, not by name, but given that Lane was not promised a title of any sort and also given that Lane was told by Ari Handel not to speak about her involvement, I really don’t see that as being a huge deal. On top of that, many actresses use body doubles and never acknowledge them, so I’m not sure what makes Lane think that she’s special other than the fact that she thinks her efforts secured Portman’s award victory.
Well to me, the dancing was amazing and it really doesn’t matter if it was all Natalie or not.
But yeah, you need to give credit where credit is due.
Thing is, no, you don’t. You don’t need to thank your body doubles and stuntmen publicly, ever, because that’s not the point. People like Lane are hired to make principles look good doing things beyond their capabilities as human beings (which, in point of fact, Portman did do in her November interview with EW), not to get face recognition for their work. They’re there to create and sustain an illusion for the sake of suspension of disbelief, nothing more– if they get their studio credit, then that’s their recognition right there.
Whether or not Lane’s claims are founded…you’ve got to admit it’s gotten a lot of people talking about ‘Back Swan’ again. Coincidentally, just in time for the movie’s big Blu-Ray release today!
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