It’s not unheard of for actors to physically morph themselves to fit in the skin of their on-screen characters. Matthew McConaughey shed 50 lbs for 2013’s Dallas Buyers Club, while Anne Hathaway underwent a drastic weight loss for 2016’s Les Misérables and Christian Bale, well, his bodily transitions are practically the cornerstone of his career.
But every actor who’s sacrificed their body for the sake of their performance has unwillingly but inevitably also ended up surrendering their mental well-being. And that’s exactly what happened with Natalie Portman for her part in Black Swan.
Black Swan Pulled Natalie Portman Into the Arms of Tragedy
Darren Aronofsky’s psychological thriller was a bone-chilling sensation that amassed widespread critical acclaim and landed Natalie Portman her first Academy Award besides a horde of other accolades. But while Portman’s rendition of the darkly mercurial ballerina might’ve gained her endless recognition, only she’s aware of the amount of torment she put herself through to deliver that level of devotion.
For her role as the protagonist, Nina Sayers, the actress completely threw herself at the mercy of the film, even if it meant losing a part of herself in the process. Since she had to play a professional ballet dancer, the Thor: Love and Thunder star, who already had a slender build, was required to lose even more weight. Not to mention, Portman was simultaneously doing vigorous training for her ballet performance, spending hours and hours perfecting the art along with other exercises like swimming.
As if her already strenuous routine wasn’t torture enough, Portman was then put on an extremely strict diet wherein she basically sustained on carrots and almonds. Even though the Léon star was slim as it is, the director and ballet coaches still prompted her to reduce a few more pounds. It’s then that she realized just how harrowing the pressure to lose weight in the industry loomed constantly like a dark cloud above them, especially for a ballerina who’s practically encouraged to survive on coffee and cigarettes.
“The pressure to be thin while expending so much energy [was the toughest]. I was like, ‘Okay, I’m hungry, I need fuel, and I’m not someone who deprives myself.’ People would tell me all the time – the ballet coaches and Darren – ‘You don’t really look like a ballerina yet,’ which was code for: ‘You’re not skinny enough.'”
Alas, Portman was left with no other choice but to push herself to the far edge of sanity.
The Physical Training Helped Her With the Emotional Delivery
As agonizing as her time on set was though, with the incessant training and crazy diets, Portman’s physical preparation did prove to be of immense help for her overall performance. Living those months on the brink of extremes let her slip into the skin of a ballet dancer and grasp the brutal reality of life as a ballerina. In her interview with Collider about the film, Portman revealed how the physical transformation played a major role in honing her emotional delivery –
“You get the sense of the monastic lifestyle of only working out, that is a ballet dancer’s life. You don’t drink, you don’t go out with your friends, you don’t have much food, and you are constantly putting your body through extreme pain, so you get that understanding of the self-flagellation of a ballet dancer.”
The film’s lurid intensity and Portman’s dark and gripping depiction of the ballerina stand testament to the same.
Black Swan can be streamed on Disney+ with a subscription or can be rented/purchased on Amazon Instant Video.
Source: Time Out Magazine
