Sarah Lane Accuses Natalie Portman, Black Swan of Body Double "Cover Up"
Natalie Portman won an Oscar for role in Black Swan, but now the star's body double is claiming the actress was featured in the film far less than has been advertised.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Sarah Lane - an American Ballet Theatre soloist who perfected many of the movie's complicated dance sequences - said: “Of the full body shots, I would say 5 percent are Natalie. All the other shots are me.”
Lane spoke out in response to comments a couple days earlier by Portman's fiance, choreographer Benjamin Millepied. He told the L.A. Times that "85 percent of that movie is Natalie.”
However, Lane says that only applies to shots which are "just her face with arms... that doesn’t show the actual dancing.”
Saying she's the victim of a "cover up," Lane adds that Black Swan producer Ari Handel told her to remain quiet about these facts, yet she's going on record now because "it is demeaning to the profession... I’ve been doing this for 22 years... Can you become a concert pianist in a year and a half, even if you’re a movie star?”
UPDATE: The filmmakers have released a statement that reads:
“We were fortunate to have Sarah there to cover the more complicated dance sequences and we have nothing but praise for the hard work she did. However, Natalie herself did most of the dancing featured in the final film.”
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July 6th, 2011 9:21 PM
I never heard of a body double getting an award for acting. Sarah needs to think about what she is doing if she wants to continue in Hollywood. Her name is listed in the credits along with a lot of other faceless people who are not crying foul.
April 12th, 2011 12:02 PM
This was a great movie and Natalies acting was stellar. However, she did not do the majority of the dancing, which in fact was a huge part of the movie and contributed to why it was so good. It wasnt just the characters, the storyline, the acting, the production aesthetics; but all those things PLUS the dancing is what made it an awesome movie. Ms Lane and her proffesion did not receive their due props and she was blatantly disrespected. The studio did attempt to spin public opinion to believe that a ballerina could be created in 1 year. Bull**** ! The sad reality is, Ms. Lane will never work in hollywood again and why, because she chose to stick up for herself and her art form. Yes, Miss Lane KNEW what she signed up for. However, if Natalie truly didnt do the majority of the dancing, shouldnt the studio be transparent about that fact, YES!!!!
April 10th, 2011 9:23 AM
Question: Would this have been an issue for Sarah Lane if Natalie Portman did not win the Oscar? I think not. This was not a movie about Ballet. This was a movie about a character that happens to be a ballerina. There are many movies with similar plots. Sarah Lane was a glorified stunt double, that's all. I have been in Martial Art's for most of my life. Martial Art act as stunt doubles in a lot of movies. The recent martial art movie was The Green Hornet. Kato was played by a Taiwanase Singer (Jay Chau), very popular in Asia. Most of the stunt doubles in that movie were Martial Artist, yet none of them try to down play (Jay Chau). Was this because Jay Chau did not win an Oscar playing the character of Kato? Did any of the come and say Jay Chau isn't a real martial artist?
These other fellow ballerina's in this blog, should also should their trap. My example is the same situation with Natalie Portman. Sarah Lane has no integrity. A true martial artist is benelovent
April 8th, 2011 5:20 PM
Natalie won the oscar for acting, not dancing... and she was good. The story was very good and I just don't realy remember the dancing part...!!!
April 5th, 2011 6:31 AM
Mastery of ballet is on an entirely different level of accomplishment. This dancer is what an Olympic athlete is in their sport -- elite, world-class. How do you justify a film credit as "hand model" for her or saying she "just did the footwork" when dancing is known to be a full bobody art form where choreography centers on the feet and their movement. She deserved more respect for the credibility her dancing lent to Portman's portrayal of a ballerina. I side with Sarah Lane and resent the movie makers and marketers for presenting Portman'Zs head on an the body of one of best dancers in the world while spinning the tale of Portman's monklike dedevotion to dance for a year allowed her to do what is not humanly possible in that timeframe. They went too far to promote Portman for the Oscar.
April 2nd, 2011 1:03 AM
Here is somebody who wants to make it in Hollywood and does not care how she does it. Does she not know that "body double" is just that and nothing more. She is not an actress and never will be. It is sad that she is such a hateful person by trying to take Natalie's hard work away from her. All they wanted from Sarah is her legs and arms and nothing more. If she was an actress, they would have used her face as well and she would have been given the part of the Black Swan. Well, she has really cooked her goose now because I can't see anybody using her as a body double again because of her big mouth and spitefulness. I know quite a few body double people and they are always so honoured to be just that for various actors. Sarah has just also shown everybody that she has no class whatsoever. She should try remembering who actually won the "OSCAR".
March 30th, 2011 3:32 PM
This is hardly the curtain scene in Singing in the Rain, but a little more honestly from her and the producers would have been refreshing.
If this film were a flop no one would be having this conversation. Still, the disgruntled dancer is right, it's highly exaggerated and deceptive to make us feel like Natalie morphed into a ballerina in only a little over a year and to vaguely credit the real dancer as a hand model shows clear intention to mislead the audience. Natalie never thanked the real dancer, only her lover, she even thanked the first AD's, still no mention of the real dancer hard work which let's face it was a pivotal character in this film. Yet, this is a movie folks, and the fact that Natalie trained so hard for this role is enough for me, she's a wonderful actress and she still deserved the Oscar. Still it's Hollywood folks, I'm sure the next dancer will have a much tighter contract to keep her lips zipped shut and take the 50 bucks a day, which is the crap they pay
March 30th, 2011 3:30 PM
This is hardly the curtain scene in Singing in the Rain, but a little more honestly from her and the producers would have been refreshing.
If this film were a flop no one would be having this conversation. Still, the disgruntled dancer is right, it's highly exaggerated and deceptive to make us feel like Natalie morphed into a ballerina in only a little over a year and to vaguely credit the real dancer as a hand model shows clear intention to mislead the audience. Natalie never thanked the real dancer, only her lover, she even thanked the first AD's, still no mention of the real dancer hard work which let's face it was a pivotal character in this film. Yet, this is a movie folks, and the fact that Natalie trained so hard for this role is enough for me, she's a wonderful actress and she still deserved the Oscar. Still it's Hollywood folks, I'm sure the next dancer will have a much tighter contract to keep her lips zipped shut and take the 50 bucks a day, which is the crap they pay
March 30th, 2011 4:45 AM
Dancing or no dancing, she was paid to be a body double and do the scenes that Natalie couldn't do. End of story. Take your money and shut your trap, or don't do it at all if you're not happy with the set up.
Im sure the 20 years of training has paid off for Ms Lane and that she is very talented, but it wasn't her name that got people in to the cinema, it wasn't her doing the acting and if she wanted smoke blown up her ass, then probably a Ballet is the place to get that done. Hollywood baby, you just gotta be nuts!
March 29th, 2011 11:21 PM
She was a body double! Since when do body doubles recieve such praises?? I think it would have been nice to see someone admire her hard work...but to me she is selfishly taking away from Natalies praise as well as her own hard work. She should shut her mouth and realize she included herself in a Hollywood movie...what did she expect??