Mila Kunis Did ‘Very Little Consuming’ For ‘Black Swan’

In an interview with Vogue alongside her Black Swan co-star Natalie Portman and the movie’s director Darren Aronofsky, the actress opened up about her grueling coaching to prep for her function as a ballet dancer within the 2010 psychological horror movie, whereas additionally detailing the extreme filming course of, together with how she suffered an harm throughout manufacturing.

“My prep was numerous dancing and little or no consuming — which I do know you are not alleged to say, nevertheless it’s the reality. I drank numerous broth and danced for 12 hours a day,” recalled Kunis, now 42, who was 27 whereas filming.

Kunis stated she and Portman had been initially solely set to have three months to organize to painting skilled ballet dancers, however as a consequence of budgeting, they finally had six, which labored of their favor.

“We had been solely alleged to have three months of prep earlier than filming began, however we misplaced some financing, in order that acquired prolonged to 6 months whereas Darren tried to seek out cash,” she defined. “It sucked for Darren, however Nat and I had been so joyful as a result of we had three further months to bounce.”

Portman chimed in, recalling how she gained “perception” into the world of ballet.

“One of the shocking unwanted effects of doing the bodily coaching was that I ended up spending a yr speaking extensively to my coach, who was a former New York Metropolis Ballet dancer and informed me hours of tales that gave a lot colour and perception into that world. It was like doing investigative journalism, however I used to be simply gossiping together with her whereas doing pliés,” she recalled.

In the meantime, Kunis went on to recall how she injured herself early on throughout the shoot.

“We might shoot these dancing scenes for hours, and I had bruises throughout my ribs simply from being lifted over and over,” she shared. “I additionally dislocated my shoulder fairly early within the manufacturing and thought I used to be fully screwed, however Darren despatched me to an acupuncturist and I one way or the other got here out completely fantastic.”

In Black Swan, Kunis starred as Lily, a newcomer and rival to Portman’s Nina, with the 2 competing for the function of the lead ballerina in Swan Lake.

In the course of the Vogue interview, Aronofsky revealed that he tried to create a rivalry off-screen to assist with Kunis and Portman’s performances on-screen — however his efforts backfired as the 2 actresses figured it out.

“My take is that I used to be making an attempt to be a sneaky director and make them argue. Mila and Natalie each realized in a short time what I used to be doing and made enjoyable of me, so it shortly grew to become a joke that all of us understood,” Aronofsky stated. “They’re each very intelligent and had been immediately aware of no matter trick I used to be enjoying.”

“Do you guys keep in mind it in another way?” he requested Kunis and Portman, who stay good associates.

“I keep in mind being separated from Mila and that we weren’t in the identical house rather a lot once we weren’t capturing. Darren made some remark early on, like, ‘Ya know, Nat, Mila’s dancing so nicely,'” Portman recalled. “And I used to be like, ‘After all she is! She’s so f–king gifted and I really like her a lot and I’m joyful she’s doing an excellent job!'”

Kunis shared, “Darren would inform me, ‘Nat is working actually, actually onerous. She’s not even taking Saturdays and Sundays off.’ Then I might textual content Nat and he or she’d be like, ‘…No, I’m not?’ I believe that is how we found out what Darren was as much as, nevertheless it was all in good enjoyable.”

Black Swan — which premiered on the Venice Movie Competition in September 2010, and launched that December — was praised by critics and earned 5 Academy Awards nominations, together with Finest Image, Finest Director, Finest Actress, Finest Cinematography, and Finest Movie Modifying. Portman finally received the Oscar for Finest Actress.

In honor of the movie’s fifteenth anniversary, Black Swan is returning to theaters subsequent week and will probably be launched in IMAX for the primary time, in response to Deadline.