Natalie Portman's Black Swan Dance Double Still Upset About 'Lying' Producers
It's hard to believe the world is still talking about how much ballet dancing Oscar winner Natalie Portman performed while shooting Black Swan, but here you go: In an exclusive interview with 20/20 -- that was tweeted out by @BreakingNews of all places! -- Portman's dance double Sarah Lane goes on the record, again, to discuss what might be the myth of Natalie Portman: Ballet Queen.
"I'm not speaking because I feel I should be heralded," Lane said in the interview scheduled to air on Friday night. "I'm just speaking because they're completely lying about the amount of dancing that Natalie did in the movie."
Lane alleges that producers even went so far as to ask her to back away from the spotlight, following an interview the American Ballet Theatre soloist did with Glamour before the Academy Awards.
"[One of the producers] asked if I would please not do any more interviews until after the Oscars because it was bad for Natalie's image," Lane said. "They were trying to create this image, this facade, really, that Natalie had done something extraordinary. Something that is pretty much impossible ... to become a professional ballerina in a year and half. Even with as hard as she worked, it takes so much more. It takes twenty-two years, it takes thirty years to become a ballerina."
Not that Lane holds any grudges -- she still feels Portman deserved her Best Actress trophy, despite the so-called "facade."
"I think she is a really beautiful actress," she said. "I loved working with her. And she was really focused on her character every day. I definitely think she deserves, all the credit that she got with the Oscar."
Sorry, Annette Bening; looks like even Sarah Lane is on Team Portman. Can this case finally (finally) (finally!) be closed?
· Natalie Portman's 'Black Swan' Dance Double Claims Filmmakers Are 'Lying' [ABC]
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I think now is a good time to admit that "The Winchester" writes 85% of my comments. Or, in other words, all the crap ones.
Like this one?
ZING!
Unbelievable reaction time!
I'm really bored today, and happened upon your comment at the moment it was published.
(Or, to keep the gist of the gag goin, MY comment. MWAHAHAHA!)
Is it time to drink yet?
I thought we started hours ago.
That's only because you're working...
Who's buying? If it's not me, I will have a Double Chevas on the rocks. If I am buying, bring me a two dollar jello shot.
We should _totally_ have some Movieline two-year anniversary get-togethers next week. NYC, LA, where else? Any venues in mind?
Dammit, Winchester! That's Chivas not Chevas!! You have made a fool of me for the last time! You're fired!
Creme Sherry for all!!!
For LA, I suggest Bigfoot Lodge Westside.
But I'm totally down for this celebration, regardless of where it is. (As long as it's not in Silverlake)
Silverlake it is then!
I believe Sarah Lane, and don't understand why the producers et al are so insistent that Natalie Portman did 85% of the dancing. It take years to develop the kind of skill to perform ballet, and its ludicrous for the producers and the director to insist that Portman learned to become that proficient in a year and a half. The producers are inadvertently belittling all the years of study, hard work and discipline Lane and others spent to be able to dance professionally, all to make Natalie Portman look better? It's ridiculous and completely unnecessary. Anyone with half a brain knows Natalie isn't some ballet prodigy. She may have learned an extraordinary amount of ballet, and may have a natural flare for the movements and motions, but that doesn't make her a professional.
OK, let me reconnoiter with the others and see what might work. Whatever we do in NYC will prolly tie to Tribeca FF, if only because, like, I have no choice. Good thing they have 90 percent of their programming everywhere but Tribeca!
Also, there's a top notch 'roke bar in Glendale/Burbank border area called The Winchester.
Just sayin...
There is also a "Gentlemen's Club" on the strip called "The SunnydaZe". FREE BUFFET!!!
I agree with Sarah Lane. The filmmakers and producers shouldn't have lied about the amount dancing done by Natalie and her in the movie. What were they trying to prove? They should've given Sarah a little more credit making Natalie dancing so elegant.
I 100% agree. I took figure skating when I was younger, and similar to ballet, people have some nutbar idea that it's a piece of cake. What people fail to realize is that just like the jumps in figure skating, it takes years to perfect those pirouettes. It's physically, mentally and diet-wise incredibly demanding. For example, for the dumble jumps to be learned, the coaches tie the skater into a harness attached to the ceiling, and at the other end, the coach pulls a rope to see in mid-air how many rotations the skater can do. I've heard of ballerinas having to drain blood from their shoes during training, as well as multiple bone injuries. Training for these art forms is not the least bit pretty, nor easy, and just because she's Hollywood's princess right now, doesn't mean 'the little people' are going to automatically swallow the ridiculous claim of swift mastery.
WHO F*#&ING CARES??? Anybody that thought Natalie Portman was really doing all that dancing is an imbecile. And if you aren't trying to "be heralded", then stfu! How many other body doubles have done body-doubling and WON'T SHUT THE HELL UP ABOUT IT? Why isn't Josh Pence throwing a fit about the fact that it was 95 percent of his body in The Social Network??? Why isn't the baby that played baby Brad Pitt in Benjamin Button coming forward with the horrible truth??? Hell, why isn't Mila Kunis's body double throwing a friggin fit cuz we know it wasn't her doing her character's dancing??? Oh yeah, because her body double truly isn't trying to be "heralded." Stop talking about this whiny beeyotch.
Unfortunately there are a lot of people who thought Natalie did all the dancing. When the New York City Ballet was performing Swan Lake in their winter season, people were coming up to the box office asking if Natalie Portman would be dancing the lead in "Black Swan" that night. She's not trying to be heralded, she's just sick and tired of the producers trying to tell her that the art form she's dedicated her life to isn't nearly as important as protecting Natalie Portman's image. As for Mila's double, did we ever actually see her character dance?
Yes. We did see Mila's double dance in one scene... and a tiny bit in another. If there are people out there who think Natalie can perform Swan Lake they are very, very, very stupid. If patrons of the ballet are that dumb I do find it sad because it is a beautiful art form. Only stupid people think she became a ballerina and only stupid people are defending them. Sarah Lane is a jealous girl. I know she doesn't care about Hollywood now but the next time they're casting a movie with dancers she's going to miss that extra chunk of change... and appearing in the movie. All of the ballet dancers who support her now are going to be very grateful that she has made room for them when the next job comes around. She had no grace at all off the dance floor. She even looks like a bitch.