‘Black Swan’ is back in theaters to celebrate its 15th anniversary, offering a chance to revisit Darren Aronofsky’s iconic ballet thriller.
‘Black Swan’ Turns 15: A Retrospective on Darren Aronofsky’s Ballet Thriller
The film that made tutus terrifying is celebrating its 15th anniversary with a return to theaters.
On Aug. 21 and 24, Darren Aronofsky’s ballet–psychological thriller Black Swan, starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis, is back in theaters in a newly remastered version playing on IMAX screens across the country.
To mark the occasion, here’s a look back at the Oscar-winning film.
The Film’s Inception
The seeds of Black Swan were planted in a New York diner in 2000, when Aronofsky and Portman first met to discuss his still-unwritten idea. “He didn’t even have a script yet,” Portman recently told Vogue. “But when he told me he wanted to make something in the world of ballet, I was just excited to explore that with him.”
For Aronofsky, the inspiration came from unexpected places: his sister’s childhood ballet training, Fyodor Dostoevsky‘s novel The Double, and a fateful night watching Swan Lake. “I saw that there was one dancer dancing the black swan and the white swan,” he previously recalled to Vanity Fair. “And one was virginal and scared. And one was sexy and predatory. And I thought ‘Wow! Two great characters.’ And it just sort of all clicked. It was a big eureka moment.”
What followed was a decade-long struggle to bring the story to life. “Everyone passed on Black Swan, and I mean everyone,” Aronofsky told Vogue. “There was one executive who said the movie would never work because ‘ballet fans don’t like horror, and horror fans don’t like ballet.’” Eventually, Fox Searchlight agreed to finance half of the film’s modest $13 million budget.
The Plot
In the film, Portman plays Nina Sayers, a timid, technically flawless ballerina cast in the dual role of Odette (the White Swan) and Odile (the Black Swan) in her company’s production of Swan Lake. While Nina is a natural fit for Odette’s purity and fragility, she struggles to access the sensual darkness required for Odile. The arrival of Lily (Kunis), a freer and more instinctive dancer, triggers Nina’s downward spiral. Pressured by her controlling mother (Barbara Hershey) and manipulated by her director (Vincent Cassel), Nina becomes consumed by the pursuit of artistic perfection as her mental and physical health starts to decline.
“The pursuit of perfection is literally killing her,” Portman has said of her character.
See More ...
The Grueling Prep
Portman’s transformation into Nina required demanding physical and psychological preparation. At times, she trained for up to eight hours a day.
“The physical prep helped me a lot for the psychological side because I really got a sense of pain that you subject yourself to,” Portman said. “Also the pressure to be very thin, which is like a whole other self-deprivation. The pressure of the competition and the perfection I got also from a lot of the people who were training me. I would start feeling their personalities and how the experience of trying to live up to these expectations shaped them, and that was really helpful for the psychological aspect.”
Kunis, too, immersed herself in the physicality of the role. “My prep was a lot of dancing and very little eating, which I know you’re not supposed to say, but it’s the truth,” she told Vogue. “I drank a lot of broth and danced for 12 hours a day.”
The intensity extended to the shoot itself. Aronofsky opted for a handheld, documentary-like visual style that pushed his actors to the edge. “We had to do a lot of takes with a lot of repetition, and it was pretty physically tough on the two of them,” he told Vogue. “I wanted to bring a documentary vibe to the film to actually go onstage to dance with Natalie.”
Even Portman was shocked by the final result. “When I saw the final cut I was completely surprised. I thought we were shooting something like almost documentary style but then I watched it and it was an over-the-top thriller.”
The Film’s Surprising Success
After premiering at the Venice Film Festival in September 2010, Black Swan was released in theaters that December and earned nearly $330 million worldwide, becoming Fox Searchlight’s second-highest-grossing film after Slumdog Millionaire. It also became a major awards contender, earning five Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing. Portman won the Oscar for Best Actress. “That movie meant so much to me,” said Portman. “It was such an amazing experience.”
