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Mila Kunis Defends Natalie Portman’s dancing in Black Swan

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Mila Kunis Defends Natalie Portman’s dancing in Black Swan

Mila Kunis has joined the ranks of those who have defended Natalie Portman, her Black Swan co-star, following allegations that her body double did the majority of the dancing in the film.

Sarah Lane, a soloist with the American Ballet Theatre, believes that Portman barely did 5% of the dance shown on TV.

Kunis told Entertainment Weekly, “Natalie danced her a** off. I think it’s unfortunate that this is coming out and taking attention away from [the praise] Natalie deserved and got.”

Portman has also conceded that her techniques weren’t flawless, according to Kunis.

“She’ll tell you, no, she was not on pointe when she did a fouette [turn],” Kunis said. “No one’s going to deny that. But she did do every ounce of every one of her dances. [Lane] wasn’t used for everything. It was more like a safety net. If Nat wasn’t able to do something, you’d have a safety net. The same thing that I had — I had a double as a safety net. We all did. No one ever denied it.”

Kunis, who co-starred in the film alongside Portman, and Darren Aronofsky, the director of “Black Swan” have come out in support of Portman, who won an Oscar for her portrayal.

“Here is the reality,” Aronofsky said in a statement posted by Fox Searchlight on Monday. “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 percent Natalie Portman.”

Last month, Portman earned the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in “Black Swan.” In a recent Los Angeles Times interview, the film’s choreographer, Benjamin Millepied (who is also Portman’s fiance), said that she did 85 percent of the dance in the picture.

Meanwhile, according to the Wall Street Journal, Lane revealed through email that she got $6,000 for just over six weeks of work on the film, which has so far made $281.6 million worldwide.

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