‘Black Swan’ double claims Natalie Portman only did ‘5 percent’ of full-body dance shots in the movie
The ballerina who served as a dancing double for Natalie Portmanís Oscar-winnning role in Black Swan tells EW she has been the victim of a ìcover-upî to mislead the public about how much dancing Portman actually did in the film. ìOf the full body shots, I would say 5 percent are Natalie,î says Sarah Lane, 27, an American Ballet Theatre soloist who performed many of the filmís complicated dance sequences, allowing Portmanís face to be digitally grafted onto her body. ìAll the other shots are me.î
Laneís claim follows a March 23 L.A. Times article in which Portmanís fiancÈ and Black Swan choreographer Benjamin Millepied said Laneís work in the film was far less significant. ìThere are articles now talking about her dance double [American Ballet Theatre dancer Sarah Lane] that are making it sound like [Lane] did a lot of the work, but really, she just did the footwork, and the fouettÈs, and one diagonal [phrase] in the studio,î he said. ìHonestly, 85 percent of that movie is Natalie.î
Lane disagrees. ìThe shots that are just her face with arms, those shots are definitely Natalie,î she says. ìBut that doesnít show the actual dancing.î Lane admits that she was never promised a particular title for her six weeks of work on the film, though she was disappointed to see that she is credited only as as ìHand Model,î ìStunt Double,î and ìLady in the Laneî (a brief walk-on role).
Lane also says that Black Swan producer Ari Handel specifically told her not to talk about her work to the press, even though she claims there was no such stipulation in her contract. ìThey wanted to create this idea in peopleís minds that Natalie was some kind of prodigy or so gifted in dance and really worked so hard to make herself a ballerina in a year and a half for the movie, basically because of the Oscar,î says Lane. ìIt is demeaning to the profession and not just to me. Iíve been doing this for 22 yearsÖ. Can you become a concert pianist in a year and a half, even if youíre a movie star?î
Reps for Portman, Fox Searchlight, and Handel have yet to provide comments on the matter.
Lane is barely seen in promotional materials for the movie, including a VFX reel posted by studio Fox Searchlight that appears to show all the digital alterations made to key dance sequences. An unverified version of that reel, leaked to YouTube, seems to shows how digital face replacement was used to put Portmanís head on Laneís body. (The clip was included in a blog post by Dance Magazineës Wendy Perron, who wrote about Laneís story earlier this month.)
According to Lane, Portmanís dramatic transformation into a ballerina ó a narrative firmly at the center of her successful Oscar campaign ó wasnít as impressive as the public was led to believe. ìI mean, from a professional dancerís standpoint, she doesnít look like a professional ballet dancer at all and she canít dance in pointe shoes. And she canít move her body; sheís very stiff,î says Lane. ìI do give her a lot of credit because in a year and a half she lost a lot of weight and she really tried to go method and get into a dancers head and really feel like a ballet dancer.î
In interviews, Portman didnít hide the fact that she had used a body double for key sequences in the film, though Laneís name, and the extent of her work, were played down. ìI do have a double for the complicated turning stuff,î Portman told EW last November. ìIt was not anything I ever could have done in a year, nothing I couldíve caught up with. But I think it was just better for all of us if I did as much as possible.î
Lane insists she isnít speaking out of jealousy over Portmanís acclaim. ì[Natalie] is an amazing actress, for sure,î she says. ìI know that itís not a personal thing against me. I know that itís just a political thing. Itís just unfortunate that I kind of lost credit.î
Categories