Natalie Portman’s performance in the hit film Black Swan garnered a lot of critical acclaim from the film industry. But her acting also proved terrifying for Emily Blunt, who’d found herself in a film role not too dissimilar from Portman’s ballerina.
Natalie Portman went through extreme pain every day for ‘Black Swan’
Natalie Portman won an Oscar for Best Actress for her role in the feature Black Swan. The film saw Portman famously portray a ballerina experiencing a psychological breakdown with the pressure of perfecting her craft. Embodying her character meant that Portman had to go through a period of extensive training that pushed herself to her limits.
“The physical discipline of it really helped prepare for the emotional side of the character because you get the sense of the sort of monastic lifestyle that is a ballet dancer’s lot,” Portman once told Mirror. “You don’t drink, you don’t go out with your friends and you don’t have much food. You are constantly putting your body through extreme pain and you really get that understanding of the selfflagellation of a ballet dancer.”
Emily Blunt once had an anxiety attack after watching Natalie Portman’s ‘Black Swan’ performance
Emily Blunt starred in her own film about a dancer not too long after Portman’s Black Swan. Three months after Portman’s drama, Blunt co-starred in Matt Damon’s The Adjustment Bureau. Blunt and Damon’s feature was more of a sci-fi thriller about the potential consequences of a politician falling for a dancer.
But Blunt got the part despite her limited dancing ability, which she warned director George Nolfi about beforehand.
“I was honest. I’ve never danced in my life,” Blunt said in a 2011 interview with Emanuel Levy. “I met George, and I said, ‘I’ll work my ass off for you if you let me do this.’”
She kept her promise and went through an excruciating time to be able to do her character justice.
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“The training was unreal. I hurt every day. It’s one thing to say, ‘I’ll do it for you,’ but it’s another thing to actually do it,” Blunt said. “It was hell to learn at first, and then it became invigorating, and one of the biggest, life-expanding experiences I’ve ever had.”
Although the training paid off, Blunt became slightly concerned after seeing what Portman brought to the table in Black Swan. This made Blunt briefly worry about her own performance in Damon’s sci-fi picture.
“I had a full anxiety attack after it but still loved the movie,” Blunt once told MTV News. “That girl has some serious guns. I was like, ‘Wow, her back looks like a barrel of snakes.’ She truly worked out and she looks incredible in the movie.”
Natalie Portman almost had a breakdown after ‘Black Swan’
Black Swan may have brought Portman much recognition and respect, but the actor confided the film could’ve had a psychological affect on her. But the potential emotional consequences of doing the movie were avoided after she pursued more lighthearted projects like Thor.
“[Thor] probably delayed the onset of a total breakdown from the efforts of doing Black Swan, which [was] going to hit at any moment,” Portman once told The Sun (via Digital Spy). “We got nice long breaks and I got to read in my trailer which was very comfortable and has a bed. I could eat whenever I wanted and train whenever I felt like it.”
Doing the comedy No Strings Attached with Ashton Kutcher also helped.
“They didn’t require a lot of research ahead of time. They didn’t require any specific physical training. Both were very fun projects, surrounded by friends,” she said.
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