The actresses trained for hours a day with a ballerina from the New York City Ballet. By the end, Portman was dancing several hours a day, swimming miles and cross-training, losing almost 20 pounds in the process.

How long did it take Natalie Portman to prepare for Black Swan?

Portman and Kunis started training six months before the start of filming in order to attain a body type and muscle tone more similar to those of professional dancers. Portman worked out for five hours a day, doing ballet, cross-training, and swimming. A few months closer to filming, she began choreography training.

Did Natalie Portman have to learn to dance for Black Swan?

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. However, it seems that many people believe that Portman did her own dancing in Black Swan."

Did Natalie Portman get skinny for Black Swan?

Portman has had to make drastic weight transformations on both ends of the spectrum during her Hollywood career. For the 2010 horror thriller Black Swan, Portman notoriously lost 20lbs.

How much ballet training did Natalie Portman do?

Natalie was very devoted to preparing for this role. She had a body double for some of the harder turning sequences but 90 percent of the dancing you see in Black Swan is her—even the upside-down splits! We started training a year before rehearsals began. We'd meet for five hours a day, six days a week.

BLACK SWAN Featurette: Natalie Portman's Training

How did Natalie Portman learn ballet for Black Swan?

Portman, who had studied ballet and modern dance at the American Theater Dance Workshop as a kid, got started with her dance preparation for Black Swan while still on the set of the raunchy R-rated comedy Your Highness in England—a year before production got underway in New York.

How much weight did Natalie lose for Black Swan?

Natalie Portman has transformed herself for many film roles, but nothing was as grueling as her Black Swan makeover. The actress shed an astonishing 20lbs from her already slight frame to play a ballerina in the 2011 film and admitted it put such a toll on her body that she thought she was going to die.

What did Natalie Portman eat while filming for The Black Swan?

Natalie Portman took on the diet and training of a real ballerina. She would eat a few grapes for breakfast, a small salad for lunch, and a few more grapes for dinner while working 16hrs a day. She lost 20lbs for the role.

How much dancing did Natalie Portman really do in Black Swan?

In a written statement, "Black Swan" director Darren Aronofsky said, "Here is the reality. I had my editor count shots. There are 139 dance shots in the film -- 111 are Natalie Portman untouched. Twenty-eight are her dance double Sarah Lane.

How many calories did Mila Kunis eat for Black Swan?

Mila Kunis has confessed that her diet was restricted to 1,200 calories per day while filming Black Swan. The actress - who shrunk down to 95lbs for her role as a ballet dancer in the film - revealed that she was in "hell" during filming and only ate foods that fit in her hand, reports the Daily Star.

Did Natalie Portman wear pointe shoes in Black Swan?

The way she wears her clothes and slouches around in her practice-kit is well-observed, and the minutiae of darning and breaking in pointe shoes is spot-on. Portman acted well in Black Swan, but if she has failed to acknowledge Lane's contribution, she may have acted pretty gracelessly too.

How old was Natalie Portman in Black Swan?

Can child stars go on to credible careers? With her Ivy League credentials and a performance in Black Swan that's put her in line for an Oscar, Natalie Portman proves it can be done... At 29, Natalie Portman has already been in the business a long time.

Is Mila Kunis a ballet dancer?

She also needed to portray a gifted ballet dancer, and persuasively enough for the character to appear as threatening competition to Nina. Yet unlike Portman, Kunis had never studied ballet. So what did she do to prepare for the role of a classical ballet dancer? She became the pupil of Alexandra Blacker.

How many hours a day did Natalie Portman train for Black Swan?

For one one year training six day a week eight hours a day. Natalie Portman prepared for Black Swan.

How long did Natalie Portman study ballet?

“I studied ballet from when I was 4 until I was 12,” said the petite Portman at the Toronto International Film Festival. “But I stopped when I started acting seriously, then started again for this film when I was 27. So there was a 15-year gap.”

What happened to Beth in Black Swan?

When she returns the things she took from Beth's (Winona Ryder) dressing room, the shoe knife becomes a weapon of self-harm, as Beth repeatedly stabs herself in the face. Again, there is no confirmation whether this is imagined or actually happened but the theory that it is part of Nina's psychosis certainly adds up.

What age is Nina in Black Swan?

Synopsis. The movie opens as Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman), a young ballerina in her mid twenties, is dancing the prologue to Swan Lake. Swan Lake is a ballet in which a princess is turned into the White Swan and can only be turned back if a man swears eternal fidelity to her.

Did Natalie Portman date Hayden?

She's certainly had her fair share of hunky suitors through the years. A decade ago, in 2000, Portman dated "Star Wars" co-star Hayden Christensen.

What diet did Lily do in Black Swan?

"I had to look skinny in order to look like a ballerina," she explains. "You fake it. So, the best way to fake it is to unfortunately look like it." The Bad Moms star says she smoked cigarettes and went on a 1,200 calories a day diet to lose the weight.

Did Natalie Portman meet her husband on Black Swan?

2009: Portman and Millepied met on the set of 'Black Swan'

Not only did she win her first and only Oscar for her role as dancer Nina Sayers, but she also met her future husband while working on the Darren Aronofsky movie, which filmed from late 2009 to 2010.

What is Natalie Portman's diet?

Aware of the personal benefits of a vegan diet, during a recent interview with InStyle Natalie was asked how she keeps her skin so 'luminous', to which the actress credited her vegan diet. Portman says, “Diet is a big part of it. I'm vegan, and I drink a lot of water. If I have dairy, I break out immediately.”

What mental illness does Nina have in Black Swan?

There are simply too many psychological issues going on with Nina. She shows elements of an anxiety disorder with obsessive compulsive behaviors. She also manifests self-injurious behavior and some signs of an eating disorder.

Why did Natalie gain so much weight?

She still made it to America, and eventually had a small pandemic wedding with Mike. However, her married life made Natalie unhappy, which led to "stress eating." Natalie says she is on antidepressants, and gained 30 pounds following her arrival in the U.S.

Did Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis lose weight for Black Swan?

Already lean, Kunis dropped 20 pounds in order to play Natalie Portman's ballerina frenemy in "Black Swan." At 95 pounds, Kunis says "I was muscles, like a little brick house, but skin and bones." Unfortunately, when she gained the weight back, Kunis says it ended up in completely different places.