Natalie Portman vs Sarah Lane: Why "Black Swan" performance wasn't about dancing

by Mary, March 28, 2011 11:49pm Her white swan was perfect ... or was it? Ballet body double raises question of film's authenticity

In a controversy that reads like a real-life version of a movie plot, "Black Swan" dancer Sarah Lane has caused a stir with claims that lead actress Natalie Portman wasn't the ballet expert that the film's publicity team claimed she was. According to the ballerina -- who performed the film's more complicated dance sequences and on whose body Natalie's face was grafted for those scenes – Portman's talent was vastly overstated in the press during Fox Searchlight Films' bid to win the best actress Oscar for their movie.

What's funny about this whole "scandal" is that both sides of the argument only care about Natalie's performance leading up to the film's taping: something that really isn't taken into consideration while audiences are watching the film. We're not even sure we understand what Lane's motivation is with coming out with this news: If she feels like she wasn't given the proper credit, why go to the press now? Did she think, as Mila Kunis' character in "Black Swan" did, that by undermining the lead she would be given the starring credit in the production?

Unfortunately, it's equally ridiculous that the studio is now responding with its own claims defending how many of the dance scenes in the film were pure Natalie, as if her Best Actress win was based entirely on her ability to pull off a fouetté. It's become a haggling negotiation; with the film's choreographer (and Portman's fiancé) Benjamin Millepied claiming that "85 percent of that movie is Natalie" and Lane claiming that the actress only did 5 percent of the body shots.