You may or may not have heard about Sarah Lane, the dance double for Natalie Portman in Black Swan. Lane claims she did most of the dancing throughout the movie, however Portman's co-stars said Lane only did "footwork."
Here's a blog post from the Wall Street Journal: http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/03/28/sarah-lane-and-natalie-portman-who-is-the-real-black-swan/
Since this is entertainment news, E! would naturally cover the topic: http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/the_awful_truth/b233073_natalie_portman_versus_sarah_lane.html
A number of comments defending Portman mention that she won an Oscar for acting, not dancing. Regardless of your stance on the situation, do you think an actor's performance should only pertain to the spoken word or can movement/dance be considered acting too?
I think credit should be given where credit is due. We are told our entire lives not to copy other people's work, or take credit for something we didn't do ourselves. The same rules should apply to everyone, famous or not.
ReplyDeleteAn actor's performance can be anything. It can be spoken words, movements, dancing, etc. Whenever somebody portrays a different person, that is acting. It's not just what someone says. Portman's Oscar win represents her performance throughout the entire movie since, even in the dance scenes, she is acting. Do I think Natalie Portman still deserves the Oscar? Yes. However, I don't think Portman deserves credit for the dancing if she did not actually do most of it herself. However, just how much dancing she did and her double did is something only the cast and crew of Black Swan will ever know.
I agree, whether or not Natalie Portman actually danced the majority of the film we will never know. I also think actors should be credited for their acting and in this case, Natalie was playing a ballerina and she was acting the part. If she wasn't doing the actual dancing she did a very good job of "acting" like she was enough so that most people believe it was her actually dancing. She should win the Oscar regardless, her acting was incredible and her ability to dance has nothing to do with her Oscar win.
ReplyDeleteI think that when an actor wins an award or recognition, they are receiving it for their performance as an entirety, not just acting or dancing. A singular act will not win an award, but the way all of those elements are portrayed helped her to win many awards. I do think dancing should be recognized as a part of an actors performance, if their part does involve dance in any form. (It's also important to remember that Natalie Portman has some previous dance experience as well, so it isn't a stretch to believe that she did dance in some of it. Regardless, she should be recognized for her entire performance, even if someone else did dance sections of it.
ReplyDeleteI've been following this story too and I agree that when someone wins an Oscar or Golden Globe that it is for more than just a single element of the performance. A lot of people say that if an actor/actress radically transforms the way they look, like Charlize Theron in Monster or Kate Winslet in The Reader, that they will automatically win the Oscar. While I don't necessarily think that is true, I agree that the element of costume and appearance does have a strong effect on the performance and amplifies a more realistic portrayal. This is how I view dancing as well. At the core, Natalie Portman won the award for her acting skills, but her dancing performance only increased how realistic the film came across.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all the previous posts. Credit should definitely be given where credit is due. While I still have not seen Black Swan (I know, I know) to give my full opinion, I think that from what I have been hearing, Natalie Portman deserves all the credit that she has been given.
ReplyDeleteWhile she may not have performed every single step, she put herself out there to at least try to do as much of her own dancing as possible. There are so many movies today that have body doubles. One that comes to mind is Center Stage where Zoe Saldana clearly was not dancing in most of her scenes.
Unless they have actors and actresses who are prima ballerinas, I do not think it is fair to expect an actor or actress to completely perform dance steps at the level in which they are trying to portray.