Black Swan

The Oscar award winning movie Black Swan is being investigated for a “cover up”. The professional dancer who worked as Natalie Portman’s stunt double in the movie has claimed that she is a victim of a cover up and that Portman only did about 5% of the dancing in the movie. The seasoned ballerina told Entertainment Weekly magazine that the film and producers are misleading the public about the amount of dancing Portman did.

It was not disputed by anyone that Lane performed the complicated dance sequences and fancy footwork and allowed the filmmakers to digitally graft Portman’s head onto the body.

Black Swan producer and Portman’s fiancé, Benjamin Millipied, commented in L.A. Times earlier this week. "There are articles now talking about her dance double [Lane] that are making it sound like [she] did a lot of the work, but really, she just did the footwork, and the fouettés, and one diagonal [phrase] in the studio," he disputes. "Honestly, 85 percent of that movie is Natalie."

Lane did admit that she was never promised any specific billing for her role but was disappointed to see herself barely credited and only acknowledged as “hand model,” “stunt double,” and “Lady in the Lane,” (a brief walk on role). Lane also claims that the movie’s producer Ari Handel asked her not to discuss her work with the press.

"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," Lane told Entertainment Weekly.

This issue is relevant to public relations in a couple of different ways. For one, it could be considered a small crisis when it comes to the credibility of the movie. Black Swan has won several awards and has been regarded highly in the world of entertainment. Part of the reason for this is the amazing dancing throughout the film and Portman’s ability to transform the role of the modern ballerina and become relatable. For someone to come out and say that it was actually them working in the movie and not Portman that is definitely a problem.

Another issue is the producer telling the stunt double what to discuss with the media. The fact that he said this makes me wonder if they were actually trying to cover something up but on the same note it’s her word against the filmmaker or studios.

Lastly, Portman was just involved in the recent drama with John Galliano of Christian Dior. The fact that her name is again being brought up in some kind of scandal or controversy is not a good look. Both the pr  for Black Swan and Portman should be pretty busy in the upcoming months.

-Alisha Mychele