A Natalie Portman body double was used for some of the more complex dance sequences during filming of "Black Swan." Some are making this out to be a huge deal, and now Portman is getting accused of trying to take credit for the work done by her professional dancer stand-in. It has never been a secret that ballerina Sarah Lane was filmed doing some of the more difficult sequences that Portman had to pull off in the movie. Suddenly, though, people are lashing out at the Oscar winner for Best Actress for all the wrong reasons.
EW.com reported that Lane has spoken out about not receiving more credit for her dancing in the film, even though she was given credit as a stunt double for Portman. This is despite the fact that Lane was never guaranteed anything in her contract, and she didn't do any of the acting within the film. Now it is starting to sound like really sour grapes, because Portman never hid the fact that she had a body double for portions of the dancing. It's almost starting to seem like Lane wants to see her name in lights, and she has become bitter that Portman didn't thank her during her Oscar speech.
At the end of the day, do movie-goers really care if a body double is being used for certain scenes in film? Or is it merely that some viewers don't get that nearly everything they see on screen is fake? Most action films are heavily relying upon green screens to place actors in specific locations that wouldn't otherwise be possible. Ever seen the movie "Fantastic Four?" In that movie, there is a huge sequence involving all of the main characters on the Brooklyn Bridge where a fire truck almost goes off the side and a huge explosion takes place. None of that was actually filmed on the real bridge, but does it matter in the scheme of the movie?
This isn't even the first time that a famous actress has used a body double in a film. For those who have seen the movie "Pretty Woman," Julia Roberts was never actually nude in that film; a body double was used for the nudity with Richard Gere. In a specific scene from "Death Becomes Her," Isabella Rossellini also had a body double step in for her during a nude scene. That body double actually became famous in her own right, as it was done by Catherine Bell, who would later star in the hit CBS show "JAG." It just serves as another example of a stand-in who didn't receive top billing in the film because she wasn't the star of the movie.
Portman didn't do her full dances, the White House wasn't blown up as depicted in "Independence Day," and James Franco didn't really cut off his own hand in "127 Hours." It's now time to move on and stop taking away anything from Portman's acting performance.
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