Natalie Portman had a dancing double for her Oscar-winning role in Black Swan
The ballerina who danced in place of Portman at various points in the movie tells the mag that Black Swan‘s producers are misleading the viewing public about how much dancing Portman herself did in the film.
That ballerina double is 27-year old American Ballet Theatre soloist, Sarah Lane, who says: “Of the full body shots, I would say 5 percent are Natalie. All the other shots are me.”
Lane performed many of the film’s complicated dance sequences and allowed Portman’s face to be digitally morphed with her body.
Benjamin Millepied, who holds the titles of Portman’s fiancé, soon-to-be baby daddy, and Black Swan choreographer (and co-star) came to Portman’s rescue by telling the L.A. Times Wednesday, “There are articles now talking about her dance double that are making it sound like [Lane] did a lot of the work, but really, she just did the footwork, and the fouettés, and one diagonal [phrase] in the studio…Honestly, 85 percent of that movie is Natalie.”
Lane, who has pretty much stood by unknown during awards season (Natalie did not mention Lane during her Oscars acceptance speech and Lane is only listed as an extra in the film’s credits) also told EW that Black Swan producer Ari Handel wanted Lane to remain silent about her work on the film. Lane says: “They wanted to create this idea in people’s 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.”
Lane continues: “It is demeaning to the profession and not just to me. I’ve been doing this for 22 years…. Can you become a concert pianist in a year and a half, even if you’re a movie star?”
Lane may have been asked to keep quiet but Portman herself has previously admitted she used a dance double. She told EW last year: “I do have a double for the complicated turning stuff. It was not anything I ever could have done in a year, nothing I could’ve caught up with. But I think it was just better for all of us if I did as much as possible.”
All of this “I did, she didn’t” talk seems moot now since Portman already nabbed the Oscar for her work on Black Swan.