Ballerina Sarah Lane Speaks Out on "GMA" about the "Black Swan" Controversy

[JamesG]

Are You a White Swan or a Black Swan?
by Joseph McCabe
March 23, 2011


A website has just launched to promote the DVD and Blu-ray release of Black Swan on March 29th.


Over at http://www.blackswanexperience.com/ the site offers users a chance to create their own emoti-poem by watching various clips from the film, and then clicking on the phrase or sentence that best describes their reaction to each clip.

If you're longing for the feelings that came with the self-absorbed melodrama of your teen years, it's a great way to recapture them!

http://www.fearnet.com/news/b22119_a...lack_swan.html

[JamesG]

Black Swan Ballerina Controversy: (Updated)
By Jacob Hall
Posted Mar 28th 2011


For those of you who may have missed the news, here's what you need to know to catch up:

Ballerina Sarah Lane has gone on something of a warpath, claiming that she did most of the dancing for Natalie Portman's role and that the Oscar-winning actress only danced in close-ups, leaving her to do all but 5% of the major dance sequences (which saw Portman's head digitally grafted onto her body).

Naturally, Ms. Lane thinks she deserves due credit, since many people (including Portman's choreographer fiancee) have emphasized Portman's dancing contributions.








UPDATE: In a prepared statement handed to Entertainment Weekly, Darren Aronofsky responds to the ballerine debacle stating:


"Here is the reality. I had my editor count shots. There are 139 dance shots in the film. 111 are Natalie Portman untouched. 28 are her dance double Sarah Lane.

If you do the math that's 80% Natalie Portman. What about duration? The shots that feature the double are wide shots and rarely play for longer than one second.

There are two complicated longer dance sequences that we used face replacement. Even so, if we were judging by time over 90% would be Natalie Portman."

http://blog.moviefone.com/2011/03/28...n-controversy/

[JamesG]

Mila Kunis: Natalie Portman Did "Every Ounce of Every One of Her Dances" in Black Swan
Mar 29, 2011
by Joyce Eng


Mila Kunis is the latest to come to Natalie Portman's defense against her dance double's claims that the Oscar winner only did a small portion of the dancing in Black Swan.

"Natalie danced her ass off," Kunis tells Entertainment Weekly.

"I think it's unfortunate that this is coming out and taking attention away from the praise Natalie deserved and got."






Kunis, however, says Portman has always been upfront in interviews about having Lane as a double for the more difficult sequences.

"She'll tell you that, no, she was not on pointe when she did a fouetté [turn]," Kunis says.

"No one's going to deny that. But she did do every ounce of every one of her dances. Lane wasn't used for everything. It was more like a safety net. If Nat wasn't able to do something, you'd have a safety net.

The same thing that I had — I had a double as a safety net. We all did. No one ever denied it."






Kunis' defense of Portman follows that of director Darren Aronofsky, who released a statement Monday saying he determined Portman did 80% of the dancing after going through all the dance shots in the film.

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Kunis-Po...e-1031189.aspx

[HuntingtonM15]

I'm glad she's getting backed up. I'm not sure why the girl is going off about this now after Natalie has already swept every single award show.

On a separate note, I think it's kind of ridiculous how Barbara Hershey's name isn't on the movie cover.

[browneyes106]

Originally Posted by HuntingtonM15

I'm glad she's getting backed up. I'm not sure why the girl is going off about this now after Natalie has already swept every single award show.

On a separate note, I think it's kind of ridiculous how Barbara Hershey's name isn't on the movie cover.

I am too. Most movie fans know that doubles are used in a lot of movies. Usually the people who serve as doubles never seek out attention like Sarah Lane is.

[JamesG]

Natalie Portman on Dance Double Controversy: "I Know What Went On"
Apr 8, 2011
by Joyce Eng


Natalie Portman is staying mum about her Black Swan dance double's claims that she only did a small portion of the dancing in her Oscar-winning performance.

"I know what went on. And we had an amazing experience making the movie and I don't want to tarnish it by entering into nastiness," Portman tells E! Online.

"I'm really proud of everyone's work in the movie and my experience. I'll have that forever. So it's nice for me to always know about that no matter what kind of nastiness or gossip is going around."





Last month, American Ballet Theatre soloist Sarah Lane told Entertainment Weekly that Portman performed approximately 5 percent of the dance scenes in the film, while she did the rest.

Lane added that the film's producer, Ari Handel, asked her not to discuss her work with the press because the producers wanted to play up Portman's training and dancing for her Oscar campaign.

Among Lane's complaints is that the actress did not thank her in her Oscar acceptance speech, but Portman says that she doesn't "remember my Oscar speech at all, and I'm actually too embarrassed to watch it."





Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky and co-star Mila Kunis have already come to Portman's defense.

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Natalie-...e-1031607.aspx

[adultescent]

Natalie Portman sounds evasive here...

[JamesG]

Natalie Portman's Black Swan Dance Double Speaks Out (VIDEO)
by Nick Zaino
posted Apr 15th 2011


Natalie Portman drew raves for dancing like a professional ballerina in Black Swan. If it looked impossible, that's because it was, according to what Sarah Lane, Portman's dance double, said on "Good Morning America".

Lane expanded on her previous statements that she actually performed the more difficult shots in the film, which were credited to Portman.





Were you told you would get credit for this? Was this a big secret?

No, I didn't do the movie to get fame or recognition, or anything. They were trying to create this image, this facade really, that Natalie had done something extraordinary. Something that's pretty much impossible.





Which is to become...

Which is to become a professional ballerina in a year-and-a-half.





The director Darren Aronofsky said, by statement, that 80% of the dance-shots were Natalie Portman's.

It could be possible if you're counting the close-ups of her face as actual dancing shots, but I don't call face close-ups actual dancing.





You don't think you'll pay a price for speaking out now?

You know, I don't care. I have so much respect for this art form and I want to stand up for those who can do it beautifully.

http://www.tvsquad.com/2011/04/15/na...aks-out-video/

[comedyfreak]

There goes her career.

[HuntingtonM15]

This girl is so annoying. I don't believe half of what she says, but even if it's true, I don't care. No matter who did certain dance scenes has nothing to do with the fact that Natalie did ALL of the acting.

[HuntingtonM15]

Originally Posted by JamesG

No, I didn't do the movie to get fame or recognition, or anything.

Oh, ok. I guess she just decided to be an attention whore after the fact then.

[PlayOn]

Originally Posted by HuntingtonM15

This girl is so annoying. I don't believe half of what she says, but even if it's true, I don't care. No matter who did certain dance scenes has nothing to do with the fact that Natalie did ALL of the acting.

totally agree. she won best ACTRESS. not best dancer!
and I condone Natalie for not wanting to tarnish the movie by speaking about this. she wants BS to be popular because it's good. not because of this scandal.