Mila Kunis Will Hunt Natalie Portman's 'Black Swan'
Filed under: Drama, Thrillers, Casting
From wrasslers to ballerinas...Last month, we learned that Natalie Portman was going to star in Darren Aronofsky's next film, Black Swan. The plot:a veteran ballerina competes against "a rival dancer, with the stakes and twists increasing as the dancers approach a big performance." Oh, and throw a little supernatural flavor for good measure. Well, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the rival will be played by Forgetting Sarah Marshall's Mila Kunis, and that bit of strangeness: this rival "might or might not be a figment of the dancer's imagination."
Frankly, this sound amazing, when one thinks of the range and success of Aronofsky's work -- math, drugs, strange time travel in space, wrestling... But I'm now torn on the casting -- mainly because of Kunis and Portman's vague resemblance to Summer Glau. Okay, so you need at least one big name to help fuel the film. But a ballerina film starring to dark-haired and petit actresses, and neither of them Glau? It seems like missing an opportunity to make use of her dancing talent.
Do you think Kunis and Portman will be able to pull off the foot-cramping world of ballerina-dom? Is Aronofsky making a mistake by not grabbing Glau? Sound off below!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-27-2009 @ 3:17PM
Jay said...
I think both of them are bad actresses, Mila Kunis being one of the most beautiful women alive. I simply can't stand that no-talent, child-star Portman.
I think you're also forgetting that Clayface was in his last film, and he couldn't act either -- now he has international recognition and is in a huge blockbuster next year (Iron Man 2).
Hopefully this will get Kunis into some better roles. Fuck Portman.
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7-27-2009 @ 7:45PM
Jim said...
Yes, I seriously think it would be a mistake to pass on Summer Glau for this role as long as it is a decent script... portman and kunis would be a mistake. IMO
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7-27-2009 @ 8:27PM
Cale said...
I think you two are forgetting something. If all of the Aronofsky films have something it's acting. The dude knows what he is doing. SImply put.
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7-28-2009 @ 8:55AM
ntmyslftdy said...
Natalie Portman is a trained ballerina. I don't know about Kunis
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7-28-2009 @ 9:27AM
Blanca said...
It is dumb to choose Natalie Portman instead or Summer Glau for a role like this. They are looking for names, not for talent. Having Mila and Summer in the same movie would be a real treat, but Portman is boring.
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7-28-2009 @ 9:32AM
ML said...
Are we talking dancing actors or acting dancers here? I don't think we're discussing someone on the level of Moira Shearer in any case. I hope that they won't sacrifice dancing quality so that the actors will be able to handle all of it.
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7-29-2009 @ 2:34AM
brinderwalt said...
Properly trained dancers ARE actors - just ones trained to communicate/emote specifically through their body movements. That's why professional dancers like Summer Glau - who was the prima ballerina for a ballet company until she was around twenty - who make the transition to acting tend to be really good at it; the skill-sets are complementary.
7-29-2009 @ 6:59PM
Who Cares said...
Summer Glau is busy starting on the TV series Doll House. Maybe too busy to do the ballarina movie.
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7-30-2009 @ 5:44AM
buccaneer said...
Summer Glau on Dollhouse is not set in stone yet. To quote Joss at Comic-Con: "if the stars align". Meaning they're still in negotiations.
I don't mind Natalie Portman really, but I do agree that this movie has Summer Glau written all over it, so it's a shame she won't be in it.
8-02-2009 @ 11:05AM
JV said...
Don't know Summer, as I'm not much of a TV watcher, however from what I can tell, when it comes to Acting Natalie is the real deal.
The referance to a no-talent child star makes her sound like a TV series kid who did nothing since the show ended.
I think that is far from where she is at. Don't think she would even make a good TV series actress as her talent seems to be in the extream, and diversity, as opposed to TV's boring monotity.
I do wish that next time someone interviews her, and brings up either her young starting age, or her education, she would just call them "boring things of the past". For me hearing the same thing more that twice becomes annoying.
As for ballet, I would hope they do add some scenes with a current profesional stand-in. From a consumer perspective it's the spectical of the film that matters, not the ego feeding of the actor doing thier own stunts.
Summer may have the talent to do a ballet spectical, however if for health reasons it would be best that she not take the risk of an intense performance, then a stand-in would remain the best choice for any intense dance sequence.
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