Natalie Portman plays a ballerina on the rise in the Darren Aronofsky thriller 'Black Swan,' which will open the Venice Film Festival on September 1. The first photos are below. Aronofsky won top honors at the festival in 2008 for 'The Wrestler.'
Portman studied ballet until she was 13 and has been talking with Aronofsky about making this movie for a decade.
She met her real-life ballet dancer boyfriend Benjamin Millepied during it.
She and costar Mila Kunis share a hotly-anticipated kiss in the film. But, says Kunis, "it's not smut."
Laura and Kate Mulleavy of Rodarte designed 40 different costumes for the movie's dancers, including the one below. This is the first time they've done film costumes.
Ballerina Nina (Portman), who demonstrates herself as technically brilliant, is chosen for the lead role of the production of the ballet Swan Lake in New York City. Nina is pressured by her mother (Hershey) to succeed and also pressured by her dance master (Cassel) to be more seductive. A new dancer, Lily (Kunis), arrives to the production, and she exhibits the sultriness that Nina lacks. Nina obsesses about Lily, and the two form a strange relationship.[1]
- Natalie Portman as Nina. Portman explained her reason for being part of Black Swan, "I'm trying to find roles that demand more adulthood from me because you can get stuck in a very awful cute cycle as a woman in film, especially being such a small person."[2]
- Mila Kunis as Lily. Kunis contrasted Lily with Nina, "My character is very loose... She's not as technically good as Natalie's character, but she has more passion, naturally. That's what Natalie's character lacks. So it's a battle and the yin and yang."[3]
- Kristina Anapau as Galina[4]
- Winona Ryder as Beth, Nina's friend[5]
- Vincent Cassel as Yevna, director of a new stage production[5]
- Barbara Hershey as Nina's mother[5]
- Sebastian Stan[6]
- Janet Montgomery as Madeline, a co-dancer jealous of Nina's talent[7]
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