Lately body double of Natalie is refuting the statement that Natalie did 85 % of the dance in the movie. According to her, it’s just 5 %.
American Ballet Theatre dancer Sarah Lane has been dancing for the past 22 years & she’s a professional dancer & she says that from a professional dancer’s viewpoint, Natalie doesn’t seem to be a ballet dancer at all. Of course she gives her credit for getting into the head of the dancer & feeling like one but Natalie worked on this just for 1 & a half year. Obviously no one becomes better than a professional in such a short span.
However, Natalie’s fiancé Benjamin Millepied said earlier this week, “It was so believable, it was fantastic, that beautiful movement quality. There are articles now talking about her dance double [American Ballet Theatre dancer Sarah Lane] that are making it sound like [Lane] did a lot of the work, but really, she just did the footwork, and the fouettés, and one diagonal [phrase] in the studio. Honestly, 85% of that movie is Natalie.”
Now the question arises: is Benjamin lying about it or is it Sarah Lane? Who would you believe? Body doubles perfume stunts better than the actor. That’s why they are hired. Anyway, this is what Lane said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly:
“Of the full body shots, I would say 5% are Natalie. All the other shots are me. The shots that are just her face with arms, those shots are definitely Natalie, but that doesn’t show the actual dancing. They wanted to create this idea in people’s minds that Natalie was some kind of prodigy or so gifted in dance and really worked so hard to make herself a ballerina in a year and a half for the movie, basically because of the Oscar. It is demeaning to the profession and not just to me.”
Moreover she also said:
“I’ve been doing this for 22 years…. Can you become a concert pianist in a year and a half, even if you’re a movie star? I mean, from a professional dancer’s standpoint, she doesn’t look like a professional ballet dancer at all and she can’t dance in pointe shoes. And she can’t move her body; she’s very stiff. I do give her a lot of credit because in a year and a half she lost a lot of weight and she really tried to go method and get into a dancers head and really feel like a ballet dancer.”
It is just Benjamin who has made a statement & Lane refutes that. We haven’t heard anything from Natalie & the director Darren Aronofsky. I wonder if they would make any statement. Natalie may have grabbed the Oscar for her acting but that doesn’t mean she’s a better dancer than all those who have been practicing it for years.
Actors should take credit for acting & getting into the character. It’s low when they take credit for what stuntmen do for them. I guess this is what’s happening here. It’s a fact that ballet dancers work so hard all their lives. You are quite stupid, if you deny that or want to believe something else. Moreover, had actors been perfect, there would have been no need for body doubles. We give them points for acting but we can’t give them credit for what’s been done by body doubles. I also believe Sarah Lane wouldn’t get anything by making such statements either & it’s really low on the part of Benjamin Millepied who has been blatantly lying to the press.
