Trivia / Black Swan

• Actor-Shared Background: Both Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis were trained in ballet when they were children. Their characters in the film are also ballet dancers.
• Banned in China: The movie was temporarily banned in Barbados due to the lesbian sex scene between Nina and Lily, which censors saw as "offensive sexual behavior." Public protest and a petition against the ban got it overturned and the film was eventually released with an R-rating.
  • The film is also banned in the United Arab Emirates for sexual themes considered too taboo for the country's sensibilities. It would have been released with cuts made, but Mohammad Naser, the UAE cinema censor, declared that there would be too much to cut and that there's no point in showing a butchered film.
• Career Resurrection: Provided one for Barbara Hershey. Her BAFTA-nominated performance as Erica saw her getting more roles, notably Insidious and in Once Upon a Time.
• Cast the Expert:
  • Natalie Portman recommended Mila Kunis for the role of Lily after discovering that she had casually done ballet as a child.
  • Many of the background corps dancers are played by actual members of the New York City Ballet.
• The Danza: Sergio Torrado as Sergio (the dancer playing Rothbart in the Swan Lake production).
• Deleted Role: Mark Margolis appeared in the film as a favor to Darren Aronofsky, but his dialogue was cut.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis lost 20 pounds each to play ballet dancers. They also both learned ballet for months prior to shooting, five hours a day. This phenomenon, of course, is the entire point of the movie.
• Enforced Method Acting: Natalie Portman said that Darren Aronofsky tried to create a rivalry between her and Mila Kunis, by keeping them apart and telling each that the other one is doing a better job. This didn't work; instead they'd text congratulations to one another when this happened.
• Method Acting: Natalie Portman got formal ballet training for a year to prepare for the role. And she also paid for it out of her own pocket, as the film had not found investors yet. She hadn't even received an official script when she began the training. Also when she injured herself, the budget couldn't afford a medic — so she told them to get rid of her trailer.
• Playing Against Type: Mila Kunis is more known for her comedic roles. Downplayed, as many of her scenes are actually either light or outright hilarious.
• Playing with Character Type: Barbara Hershey as My Beloved Smother and Mama Bear at the same time.
• Real-Life Relative: Mr. and Mrs. Stein are played by Abraham and Charlotte Aronofsky — Darren Aronofsky's parents.
• Referenced by...:
  • In a vlog by Canadian figure skater Roman Sadovsky, he describes the 2018 Canadian short film (which would later be titled Attainment) that he stars in as, "[The director] is basically trying to capture all the darkest parts of figure skating. It's like Black Swan, but figure skating."
  • BTS's song "Black Swan" and its music video have several references to this movie. The song is part of the "shadow" section of MAP OF THE SOUL: 7 ("shadow" being the unconscious/unknown side of the self, as opposed to the "persona") and thus is about the darker elements of fame (in the lyrics, about the fear of a musician of losing the ability to feel anything from music), much like Nina in Black Swan struggles with darker elements of both ballet and herself. The music video goes as far as showing the members on a stage from the perspective of a performer (even with the use of backlighting) and referencing the Mirror Scare scene and the scene where Nina as the Black Swan sprouts wings.
• Romance on the Set: Natalie Portman and the film's choreographer Benjamin Millepied. They're now married and have two children together. It became Hilarious in Hindsight as Benjamin Millepied is the guy Thomas asks if he would do Nina, Natalie's character. He answers no. Portman, heavily pregnant during her thank you speech at the Golden Globes, said: "He's the best actor! It's not true! He totally wants to sleep with me!"
• Saved from Development Hell: The script was in development for ten years before it got made.
• Star-Making Role: While both Kunis and Portman were already renowned actresses before the film came out — the latter probably more so than the former — the film has almost certainly increased both their credentials as "serious" thespians. Portman even won an Oscar for her performance. Contrast this role with others that Portman shot before it but which were released after, such as Your Highness, for a marked illustration of this effect.
• Throw It In!: Nina's line "I just want to be perfect" wasn't in the original script and was added by Natalie Portman during rehearsals.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Summer Glau revealed at Emerald City Comic Con 2012, that she had auditioned for a supporting role in this movie, but during the pre-production stages, the character was cut from the story.
  • This was originally going to be the story of The Wrestler too, with Cassidy being a ballerina. Darren Aronofsky quickly realized the concept was too much for one movie and developed them separately.
  • Meryl Streep was considered to play the role of Erica.
  • Rachel Weisz, Parker Posey and Jennifer Connelly were all considered for the role of Beth — before it went to Winona Ryder.
  • Antonio Banderas and Hugh Jackman were considered for Thomas Leroy.
• Word of God: Darren Aronofsky confirmed that Nina does not die at the end, and that her bleeding is merely symbolic of her becoming a woman. Natalie Portman agrees with this statement; she had been uncomfortable with the positioning of the blood around Nina's stab wound, feeling it looked too much like menstrual blood. Aronofsky said it was intentional.

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