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.

How did Natalie Portman prepare for her role in Black Swan?

We added in swimming, so I was swimming a mile a day, toning and then doing three hours of ballet class a day.” However, the actor kept extending the amount of ballet she was practising, “Two months before, we added the choreography, so we were doing probably eight hours a day.”

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."

How long did filming Black Swan take?

Production on the reconstituted $13m Black Swan ran for 42 days from December 2009 to March 2010. “Our first 10 days on the shoot were the coldest December New York had seen in 50 years,” Franklin recalls. “As hard as it was shooting on that budget for 42 days, we got a real sense of accomplishment.

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.

BLACK SWAN Featurette: Natalie Portman's Training

How long did Natalie Portman train in ballet?

Natalie Portman studied ballet from the ages 4 to 12, at which point she turned her focus to her acting career.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Do ballerinas like Black Swan?

Though the movie received critical acclaim, earning numerous Oscar nominations with Natalie Portman taking home the Best Actress prize, Tamara Rojo, a ballerina at the Royal Ballet, told The Guardian that Black Swan “is a very lazy movie, featuring every ballet cliche going.” Other dancers, like New York City Ballet's ...

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.

Why is Nina so childlike in Black Swan?

Personality… childlike, insecure, and psychologically disturbed. The pressure of being the Swan Queen has been affecting Nina's behavior, and her perfectionism is starting to take a noticeable toll on her mental health.

Did Lily and Nina sleep together?

NOT REAL: Therefore, Lilly and Nina did not have actual sex (we know this because after sex, Lilly said something to Nina about being a ‘Good girl’ and then tried to smother her.

Why did Nina's eyes turn red?

The night before she is set to perform, Nina becomes convinced that Lily is going to take her place. Her paranoia and mental strain cause her to hallucinate that she's physically turning into the role of Odile, the Black Swan, complete with red eyes and black feathers protruding from bird-like skin.

Was Lily real in Black Swan?

Lily (Mila Kunis) in "Black Swan" is only real in in half a dozen scenes.

How did Natalie Portman learn so many languages?

Natalie Portman

Being of Israeli-American heritage, she's had exposure to multiple languages and cultures from a very early age, and grew fluent in Hebrew and English as a result. But she didn't stop there, and has gone on to learn French, German, and even Japanese at varying degrees of fluency.

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 long was Natalie Portman in Harvard?

From 1999 to 2003, Portman attended Harvard University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in psychology. She reduced her number of acting roles, but continued to act in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (2002, 2005) and in The Public Theater's 2001 revival of Anton Chekhov's play The Seagull.

Do ballerinas wear bras?

It really comes down to comfort level, personal preference, and studio uniform. Also, a lot of girls don't wear a bra under their leotard. Back when I was dancing (we're talking 2000's), I'd wear a black sports bra under my black leotards if I even wore a bra.

How realistic is Black Swan?

While the film dramatizes the unveiling of Nina's illness, it presents some reasonably accurate elements of first-break psychosis.

What is the criticism of the Black Swan?

It's excessive and psychologically imprecise, coarse where it should be refined and too much like a David Cronenberg horror movie in places where restraint and intellectual rigor are called for. Black Swan is a stage door melodrama putting new spins on cliches as old as "All About Eve" (and maybe Adam).

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.