USA Today has nabbed the first look at Darren Aronofsy’s Black Swan, a ballet thriller that stars Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis. (“Ballet thriller?”, you might balk- “Suspiria!”, I might exclaim.)
The dark tale with psychological twists stars Natalie Portman as Nina, a technically brilliant ballerina whose life takes some strange turns after being picked as the lead in a New York City production of Swan Lake. Pressures mount as her overbearing mother (Barbara Hershey) pushes her to succeed and her manipulative dance master (Vincent Cassel) commands her to be more seductive and loose in her performance.
Complicating matters is the arrival of Lily (Mila Kunis), a sultry dancer who exhibits all the innate ease and sexuality that Nina lacks. Nina begins to fixate on the newcomer as the two forge an unusual relationship.
The film has already been accepted into the Venice International Film Fest and will kick off on its opening day of September 1st.
If you think that Natalie Portman seems perfect for the role of a dancer, there’s a reason for that. She studied ballet as a child, and trained for six months before shooting this so she could do things right on screen. Says Aronofsky: “Most of these women who are here started dancing when they were 4, 5 or 6 years old. Their bodies are shaped differently because they started so young. She was able to pull it off. Except for the wide shots when she has to be en pointe for a real long time, it’s Natalie on screen. I haven’t used her double a lot.”
Here’s Mila Kunis showing Portman that it’s ok to eat a burger once in a while, cause men like curves.
Kunis didn’t have the benefit of a background in dance, but apparently
worked her ass off (17 pounds of it) to try and look the part. In case the synopsis didn’t tip you off, we’ll be seeing these two women get very close in the film.
Quite a change of pace from The Wrestler! Expect to hear much more about Black Swan over the coming months.