The Black Swan dance double controversy concerns an American film and the credit its production gave to performers.
Black Swan is a 2010 American psychological horror film about a ballerina directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, and Mila Kunis.
[1] In a March 3, 2011 blog post (written prior to the DVD release) for Dance Magazine, its editor-in-chief Wendy Perron asked why a visual effects video clip showing Lane's face being replaced by Portman's had been available online but was removed prior to the Oscars.
She also speculated as to whether Portman's omission of Lane's name during her acceptance speech was a case of "forgetfulness in the heat of the moment?
Aronofsky and Fox Searchlight issued a joint statement, arguing: "We were fortunate to have Sarah there to cover the more complicated dance sequences and we have nothing but praise for the hard work she did.
Lane responded through an essay published in The Wall Street Journal (Portman declined through a representative to write one as well) and an interview on 20/20 that her interest lies primarily in defense of ballet as an art form that cannot be mastered in a year.
[8] The film's director Darren Aronofsky stated in a July 2010 interview: "Most of these women who are here started dancing when they were 4, 5, or 6 years old.
That shot, in the opening prologue when she walks off into the light and she’s flapping her wings, and she’s on pointe, that is 100%, untouched, no digital Natalie Portman.
[10] In a November 29, 2010 interview, Portman's other dance double, Kimberly Prosa, also added: "Natalie took class, she studied for several months, from the waist up is her.
Sarah Lane a soloist at ABT, did the heavy tricks, she did the fouettés, but they only had her for a limited time, a couple of weeks, so I did the rest of whatever dance shots they needed.
"[11] In addition, Portman said in an interview with MSN: "I did everything, and the dance double — Sarah Lane, who's a really wonderful dancer — they shot us both doing everything, but because most of the film is in close-up, they're able to use me.
"[12] She also stated in a November 2010 interview with WBUR that "there's a wonderful dancer, Sarah Lane, who did the more complicated pointe work.
"[13] In December 2010, Lane also gave an interview to Kina Poon of Dance Magazine in which she responds to the question "and how does it feel to be part of a performance that some critics are giving Natalie Portman rave reviews for?"
"[14] Lane's involvement in Black Swan was also mentioned in two other dance magazines and in an article on The New York Times website.
[15][16][17] After the Oscar ceremony on February 27, 2011 in which Portman won the Academy Award for Best Actress and where she thanked many people but did not mention Lane,[18] dancer and editor-in-chief of Dance Magazine Wendy Perron published a March 3, 2011 blog post in which she asks why a visual effects video clip showing Lane's face being replaced by Portman's was once available online but later removed from the Internet prior to the Oscars.
We know that Natalie Portman studied ballet as a kid and had a year of intensive training for the film, but that doesn't add up to being a ballerina.
She says she's talked to her colleagues about 'how unfortunate it is that, as professional dancers, we work so hard, but people can actually believe that it's easy enough to do it in a year.
"[19] Benjamin Millepied (Portman's ex-husband and a principal dancer from New York City Ballet who debuted in Black Swan as both actor and choreographer)[9][20] responded to Perron's blog in a March 23 interview with the Los Angeles Times.
Lane also reiterates that she was asked by producers to stop giving interviews until after the Oscars were over and as to why she thinks that happened, explained: I had read a lot of articles that Natalie had done where she said she did 90 percent of the dancing.
They released statements that stated: "We were fortunate to have Sarah there to cover the more complicated dance sequences and we have nothing but praise for the hard work she did.
[24] In an email exchange with Farley published on March 28 in The Wall Street Journal, Wendy Perron stated, "the publicity department for Fox Searchlight, the studio behind the film, is just 'doing its job' in promoting Portman's work".
"[27] In an April 15 interview with Elizabeth Vargas for ABC's 20/20, Lane stated: "I didn't really specify anything in my contract about getting onscreen credit or anything ...
"[31] Lane further reiterated the point that prior to the Oscar ceremony, she gave an interview with Glamour for an article titled The Real Black Swan.
"[31][29] In another interview for the Dance Channel network, Lane was asked, "Looking back and having experienced what you had and deciding to talk about what happened, would you do Black Swan again?"