That striking, haunting poster for Black Swan -- featuring a wing-eyed, facepainted, selectively focused Natalie Portman -- has been revised just in time for the long Oscar haul to come. You could expect nothing less from the micromanaging marketers at Fox Searchlight, especially after the lightning strike of Oscar hype that greeted Black Swan's premiere this week in Venice. But: Is it actually any better? Judge for yourself after the jump.
"There have been some revisions to the credits on this new one-sheet for Black Swan," says Searchlight's note accompanying the new poster, and that's true -- no longer does "Academy Award Nominee Natalie Portman" have to slum horizontally with co-stars Vincent Cassel and Mila Kunis. More intriguingly, Portman has been given a narrower face, a more defined neck, slightly downgraded cheekbones, and -- this is the bummer for me -- lighter, clearer eyes that steal some of the mystery in her darker, redder peepers in the original. It's like she's trying to make eye contact -- more vulnerable than predatory, which, having not seen the film, may be the point. But I liked predatory, for what that's worth, which is... well, nothing.
Anyway, this happened. Thoughts? (Click for bigger.)
