Black Swan vs. Adjustment Bureau: Learning Curve

[puppytreats]

Today's links has the following post:

"Posted Today, 01:19 PM

Emily Blunt talks about getting in shape to play a ballet dancer in "The Adjustment Bureau." ...

'I looked like an aerobics teacher. My shoulders puffed out, my back looked like there was a barrel of snakes in it and I had an eight-pack.'"

In the article, or in an article in Dance Magazine referred to therein, the actress discusses getting in shape and learning to dance over the course of a month. Articles about "Black Swan" discuss the year that Nicole Portman took to get in shape and learn to dance. Both women were very thin prior to the movie, but went on special diets for their roles. I am curious about the physical training and timing differences. Does anyone have any insight?

[dirac]

puppytreats, I don't know if the following observations qualify as "insights" but they might at least be a springboard for discussion. It's true that movie stars, at least on the distaff side, have to be thin, but even actor-thin isn't the same as dancer-thin, and it doesn't surprise me that both women lost weight for their roles. As to the difference in training time, perhaps it has something to do with the fact that Blunt seems to be more of a leading lady in her picture whileNatalie Portman carries most of "Black Swan" and not quite as much in the way of "dancing" was expected of her. Portman's rigorous training was no doubt rigorous enough, but emphasis on said rigors was also part of the publicity campaign for the movie and Portman's Oscar campaign.

[erpollock]

puppytreats, I don't know if the following observations qualify as "insights" but they might at least be a springboard for discussion. It's true that movie stars, at least on the distaff side, have to be thin, but even actor-thin isn't the same as dancer-thin, and it doesn't surprise me that both women lost weight for their roles. As to the difference in training time, perhaps it has something to do with the fact that Blunt seems to be more of a leading lady in her picture whileNatalie Portman carries most of "Black Swan" and not quite as much in the way of "dancing" was expected of her. Portman's rigorous training was no doubt rigorous enough, but emphasis on said rigors was also part of the publicity campaign for the movie and Portman's Oscar campaign.

I just saw Black Swan, or the first hour of it - after that I knew exactly what was going to happen and I had a good enough impression of Natalie Portman's acting and dancing, which is what interested me. Despite all the publicity given her training and weight loss, I see New York City Ballet several times a week in season and there is no way she is going to make me think she's a dancer. The director wisely shows her mostly from the waist up, and even utilizing only a truncated version, she is awkward. Her back is stiff, she never shows a backbend which Swan Lake often calls for, and her arms are very disjointed. I don't mean this with malice - I hope it's not taken as that - but that if you are exposed to real ballet dancers at the top of their profession like at City Ballet, what Black Swan is depicting is a poor substitute. She has no musicality in her movement, dance does not live within her as it does within Benjamin Millepied, for example, who briefly partners her. Natalie Portman carries off the acting demands very well as we'd expect, but the dancing? That's not dancing, that's careful execution of taught technique, and it is too late at 28 to acquire the flexibility ballet demands. Though perhaps her stiffness is what the director called for, to demonstrate her rigidity. But then her being chosen as Swan Queen is completely inexplicable based on her demonstrated lack of dance talent.

Well, I've had my rant. If this is too negative for Ballet Alert, I am sure I will be deleted by the Administrator.

[vipa]

I just saw Black Swan, or the first hour of it - after that I knew exactly what was going to happen and I had a good enough impression of Natalie Portman's acting and dancing, which is what interested me. Despite all the publicity given her training and weight loss, I see New York City Ballet several times a week in season and there is no way she is going to make me think she's a dancer. The director wisely shows her mostly from the waist up, and even utilizing only a truncated version, she is awkward. Her back is stiff, she never shows a backbend which Swan Lake often calls for, and her arms are very disjointed. I don't mean this with malice - I hope it's not taken as that - but that if you are exposed to real ballet dancers at the top of their profession like at City Ballet, what Black Swan is depicting is a poor substitute. She has no musicality in her movement, dance does not live within her as it does within Benjamin Millepied, for example, who briefly partners her. Natalie Portman carries off the acting demands very well as we'd expect, but the dancing? That's not dancing, that's careful execution of taught technique, and it is too late at 28 to acquire the flexibility ballet demands. Though perhaps her stiffness is what the director called for, to demonstrate her rigidity. But then her being chosen as Swan Queen is completely inexplicable based on her demonstrated lack of dance talent.

Well, I've had my rant. If this is too negative for Ballet Alert, I am sure I will be deleted by the Administrator.

I agree. I didn't like the movie ,even though I'm an Aranofsky fan, for reason's I won't go into here. I am annoyed by the press that states that she succeeded in looking like a dancer. She didn't and the film makers/editors knew she didn't (IMO) which is why you never see her dancing with other female dancers. I think her training regime was not time well spent, but publicity about it might help her get an Oscar.

Weight loss - I see many dancers who are not as thin as Portman was in that movie - more hype - muscle tone is what makes one look like a dancer.