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Natalie Portman’s ‘Black Swan’ dance double speaks out

Caitlin Emma Contributor
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The dance double for Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman in the movie “Black Swan” said Portman did not do as much of the dancing that the publicity surrounding the movie claims.

American Ballet Theater soloist Sarah Lane told Entertainment Weekly she was the victim of a “cover-up” and said that Portman performed maybe 5 percent of the dancing shots that made the film.

Lane joined ABC’s “Good Morning America” Thursday to discuss the exaggerated role of Portman’s dancing.

“They were trying to create this image, this facade really, that Natalie had done something extraordinary, something that’s pretty much impossible,” Lane told ‘Good Morning America,’ “which is to become a professional ballerina in a year and a half.”

Portman’s fiancé and “Black Swan” choreographer Benjamin Millepied disagreed, saying he counted the dance scenes and “85 percent of that film is Natalie.”

Portman never denied that she needed a stunt double. She told EW last year, “I do have a double for the complicated turning stuff. It was not anything I ever could have done in a year, nothing I could’ve caught up with. But I think it was just better for all of us if I did as much as possible.”

Lane said she only hoped to defend the integrity of the profession by speaking out.

Watch the video from “Good Morning America” below.

Caitlin Emma