Search Style Sheets: Your Photos, Your Looks

• Follow on Google Plus
• Follow on Pinterest
• Follow @sportsgrid
• Like us on Facebook

• http://www.thriftyvintagechic.com Rwallace

  I can understand the dancer wanting to set the record straight — afterall, she’s spent years, more like a lifetime, of achieving her art and then to have it somewhat disregarded by the studio or Portman saying the actress did all or most of the dancing is a bit undermining to the dancer and the art of ballet.

• http://www.facebook.com/TogetherinParis Ross C. Nicholson

  Natalie Portman did not get the Oscar for her two-step.

• Docpou

  Ask Natalie to dance, and we’ll see…

• Anonymous

  Who cares who did what percentage? It’s a work of fiction, from what a friend told me, it sounds like it’s worth seeing, so why dumb discussions and articles about this movie to petty little issues about who doubled for who? So not all the dancing by the main character was by the same person, big deal. It’s not like the stunt that was pulled with the two little girls during the opening ceremonies of the 2008 summer Olympics. It should be understood that when making movies, there’s probably goiing to be doubles sometimes. It’s nothing new and it’s not exploitive since both adults in the role have agreed to it, and movie audiences should be intelligent enough to be amazed if they find out someone did all the scenes, but not surprised or disappointed if they didn’t. It’s just a good movie.

• http://twitter.com/orpheussf Brendan Kirkpatrick

  I’m not sure if @Docpou and others are aware of it, but Portman IS a trained ballet dancer (as well as a Harvard grad and winner of an Intel science prize for high-school age geniuses. God, you could just hate her, couldn’t you?) The important point is that both the filmmakers and Portman have been very open about the fact that a body double was used for many of the difficult sequences, so there’s no coverup and no fraud. Sarah Lane took money from them clearly understanding what she was being asked to do. Did she think it was some kind of dishonesty then? I think not; this is just someone trying to grab the brass ring and further her career by piggybacking on Portman. Lane will certainly never get a movie opportunity again,so I think it’s gonna end up being a net loss for her.

• http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001024198090 Scott Mccormick

  and,poof!* it’s a flashdance style controversy to drum up a few more dollars in box-office.Portman rocks,btw

• BikerK

  Perfectly stated, Brendan. She was paid for being a body double. No one ever lied about having a double and no one ever thought Natalie’s next gig was going to be with the NYC Ballet either!

• kate

  I think it’s pretty obvious in the movie how much of the dancing Portman did herself. You can tell it’s her because her technique is not very good and she looks untrained. The scenes where the dancing is good is clearly where a body double was used. I understand that Portman took lessons and trained with professionals for months leading up to filming, but it takes years and years to look natural and graceful with classical ballet.

  I understand why Lane would be upset. As an ex-dancer myself, I know how much time and excruciating pain (both emotional and physical) goes into classical ballet. She should get the recognition she deserves.

• Diana

  I think Sarah Lane accepted the position as a body double knowing that she would be credited as a body double. I’m sure she was properly compensated for her involvement. What differences does it make what percentage of the dancing was Sarah’s or Natalie’s? The Oscar was won based on Natalie’s amazing acting performance, not on her plies or arabesques. Sarah Lane already dances for one of the world’s top ballet companies — does she want to dance or does she want to act? I have seen Sarah Lane perform with ABT and she is as amazing a dancer as Natalie is an actress.

• Anonymous

  Why does she have to thank her? I donwloaded video with the speech of Natalie from http://www.torrentoff.com and she really didn’t mention Sarah Lane and it was right! It’s her Oscar for ACTING, she won it, yes she had a dance double, she probably had 20 coaches, hair, makeup, costume and a craft services lady they all helped her. you hardly hear the stunt doubles name in movies, is it ungrateful not to mention them? Sarah Lane was paid, she should have took that thank you.

• Anonymous

  Why does she have to thank her? I donwloaded video with the speech of Natalie from http://www.torrentoff.com and she really didn’t mention Sarah Lane and it was right! It’s her Oscar for ACTING, she won it, yes she had a dance double, she probably had 20 coaches, hair, makeup, costume and a craft services lady they all helped her. you hardly hear the stunt doubles name in movies, is it ungrateful not to mention them? Sarah Lane was paid, she should have took that thank you.

• Mica

  I would certainly want to be recognized if I was Lane, however she was not the only body/dancing double, so I don’t understand why she wouldn’t toss the other body doubles’ (Natalie’s had two, Mila had one) names in along with her “disgrace to the industry” rant.

  She deserves credit, but so do the other body doubles. Natalie worked very hard regardless of her using a body double. According to IMDB she even twisted a rib while filming, but continued to do dance scenes for the film. There is also a dance scene count on IMDB (which compares the number of Natalie’s and Sarah’s scenes,) and if it is accurate then Lane is stretching the truth quite a bit.