Is Natalie Portman ballet’s Milli Vanilli? The ballerina who danced as her double in Black Swan told Entertainment Weekly last week that producers had told her to keep quiet about how much dancing she had done in the film.

“Of the full body shots, I would say 5 percent are Natalie,” says Sarah Lane, 27, an American Ballet Theatre soloist who says she was the subject of a “cover-up”. Lane’s comments came in response to a March 23 L.A. Times article in which choreographer Benjamin Millepied (also Portman’s fiance) downplayed the significance of Lane’s contribution. Lane was not listed as a dance double in the film’s credits, but merely as an extra.

 “They wanted to create this idea in people’s minds that Natalie was some kind of prodigy or so gifted in dance … basically because of the Oscar,” says Lane. “It is demeaning to the profession and not just to me … Can you become a concert pianist in a year and a half, even if you’re a movie star?” On Monday, Black Swan’s director Darren Aronofsky defended Portman, saying that 80 percent of the shots are the star by number, and 90 percent by time.

Responding to claims that Black Swan star Natalie Portman didn’t do the majority of her on-screen dancing in her Oscar-winning role, director Darren Aronofsky released the following statement through studio Fox Searchlight:

“Here is the reality. I had my editor count shots. There are 139 dance shots in the film. 111 are Natalie Portman untouched. 28 are her dance double Sarah Lane. If you do the math that’s 80% Natalie Portman. What about duration? The shots that feature the double are wide shots and rarely play for longer than one second. There are two complicated longer dance sequences that we used face replacement. Even so, if we were judging by time over 90% would be Natalie Portman.

And to be clear Natalie did dance on pointe in pointe shoes. If you look at the final shot of the opening prologue, which lasts 85 seconds, and was danced completely by Natalie, she exits the scene on pointe. That is completely her without any digital magic. I am responding to this to put this to rest and to defend my actor. Natalie sweated long and hard to deliver a great physical and emotional performance. And I don’t want anyone to think that’s not her they are watching. It is.”
Last Friday, ballerina Sarah Lane told EW that Portman only danced 5 percent of the full-body shots in the film. She also claimed that one of the film’s producers asked her not to speak publicly about her work during Oscar season. Lane’s comments came after Black Swan choreographer (and Portman fiancé) Benjamin Millepied told the L.A. Times that Natalie did “85 percent” of the dancing in the film. Lane could not be immediately reached for comment regarding Aronofsky’s statement.

Source: Enterteinment weekly, the Slatest

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