Darren Aronofsky on Black Swan, 'Pulling' Actors and Life Vs. Art

Were any of the characters -- so many driven based on their profession -- based on any personal experiences? Anything that reminded you of yourself?

I don't know. It's based on a lot of experiences. I really think the film, for me, is about performance. And so is The Wrestler. They are both films about performance. I think it comes out of the fact that my favorite part of filmmaking is working with actors and performers. I love being next to actors while they're doing their craft and its a great mystery for me how they do it. And I think, in many ways, both The Wrestler and Black Swan are kind of odes to the struggle of actors.

I could make the case your last three films are related. The Fountain was very cerebral, which under preformed at the box office. Then The Wrestler was a very stripped down story about the struggle of this man. Now here's Black Swan, also a stripped down struggle for a character, but also very cerebral.

I think every film you learn things from. And so it just changes you as a person and as a filmmaker. I just try to be real to what I want to do now, in the moment. And so I think if you try to hold on to who you were, that's when you get stagnant and that's when you get into problems. You've got to just constantly keep reinventing yourself ... as Madonna as taught us [laughs].

When something happens in your personal life, like the recent story in the press...

Yes...

How do your emotions as a person seep into your work? Your next film is The Wolverine. Are those emotions helpful?

You know, I have no idea where creative seeds and sparks come from. It just something that's inside you, it's in your gut, and you just go with it. You follow your instincts. And that's what I've done in all of my work, is just to constantly be truthful to what my heart is saying. And, so, you know... That's the only think I think we can be responsible to as people who are telling stories.

Do you feel you were unfairly singled out for taking on Wolverine by fans of your work?

Look, every project that I do, there are many, many doubters. Always. I mean, ballet movie? A wrestling movie with Mickey Rourke? Do you think everyone was like, "Hey, that's a great idea"? Every single person in the business turned it down. After Pi, people said, "What do you want to do next?" I said, "Requiem for a Dream." No one would return my messages. So you can't listen to what people are saying. You've just got to do what you want to do and see what happens.

OK, so how do you sell a ballet movie?

It was really, really tough. It took 18 months of serious work by my producing partner and my team at CAA. We went through so many financiers, everyone passed. Even the companies that we bought on collapsed a few times and it was a real struggle. It's really hard right now to make an independent film, unfortunately.

Didn't you talk to Natalie quite a few years ago about possibly making this film?

Ten years ago.

Would you have wanted to do it back then?

No, no. It took a long time to figure out how to make a film about ballet. I had to learn a lot of stuff to figure it out. It's a world that's really hard to get into and to understand and to figure it out.

Well, it's about ballet ... but it's really not.

Yeah, I know [laughs].

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