The “fucked-up” decision Darren Aronofsky made when shooting ‘Black Swan’ with Natalie Portman
In 1994, Natalie Portman starred as Mathilda in Leon: The Professional when she was barely a teenager. She had landed herself an agent after getting scouted in New York City, choosing to pursue a career in acting. The star impressed critics, and she subsequently embarked on a road to success, landing roles in Heat, the Star Wars prequel series, and Mars Attack!.
As she entered the early 2000s, Portman continued to show her dedication to her craft by starring in a variety of genres, from romantic dramas to comedies and action movies. She appeared on stage, too, working under the direction of Mike Nichols for performances of The Seagull. It was Closer, Nichols’ 2004 film, which earned Portman her first Oscar nomination, too.
However, in 2010, she would win her first Academy Award for playing the lead role in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, a compelling psychological horror about ballet, obsession, and repression. The actor starred as Nina Sayers, a dedicated ballerina who lives at home with her overprotective mother.
As Nina vies for the leading part in a production of Black Swan, her domineering male choreographer encourages her to explore her darker side to prove that she has what it takes. She descends into obsessive madness as she tries to break free from the chains that have kept her captive to childlike security and routine.
Portman had taken ballet lessons as a child, but to be ready for the role of Nina, a professional dancer, she trained extensively – to the point that she almost lost herself to the role. She shed a significant amount of weight from the hours of training she was doing every day for months on end, which was arduous and mentally challenging.
The actor told Collider that she “would do two hours a day for the first six months, and that was really just strengthening and getting me ready to do more, so that I wouldn’t get injured.” She continued, “At about six months, we started doing five hours a day. We added in swimming, so I was swimming a mile a day, toning and then doing three hours of ballet class a day.” Eventually, she added even more exercise to her routine. “Two months before, we added the choreography, so we were doing probably eight hours a day.”
Aronofsky was impressed with Portman, although he admitted that he did something “fucked-up” while the actor was working hard to prepare for her performance. “There was maybe one day when I changed the choreography on her that day, which was a really kind of fucked up thing to do, but the choreography wasn’t working for the shot so we had to kind of change it,” he explained to Pop Entertainment.
“We made it simpler, but I think it was also psychologically it’s hard when you’ve practised something for a long time to bring another thing in. And by then we were deep in it, she was pretty exhausted. So that was tough. But she was solid the whole film, she was a total trooper and it was unbelievably difficult.”
Black Swan turned out to be incredible, with Portman giving a career-defining role. To get there, however, she went through immense difficulty.
