Feeling chilly: Natalie Portman keeps warm in her coat as she walks her dog in New York City todayIt was the single most talked about performance this year and even won her the Academy Award for Best Actress.
But what some fans might not know is that Natalie Portman had a little help with her highly acclaimed role as a tormented prima ballerina in Black Swan - her two body doubles.
The 29-year-old actress, who is currently pregnant with her first child, used dancers Kimberly Prosa and Sarah Lane for some technical scenes.
Getting ready for baby: It's only a few weeks until Portman is expected to give birthHowever, Natalie's dance partner and choreographer on the film Benjamin Millepied, says the integrity of her performance should not be questioned.
Benjamin, who is also now engaged to the actress and is father to her unborn child, told the Los Angeles Times of her performance: 'It was so believable, it was fantastic, that beautiful movement quality.
Deserved the Oscar: Natalie Portman with her dance partner turned fiancé Benjamin Millepied'There are articles now talking about her dance double that are making it sound like [her body double] did a lot of the work, but really, she just did the footwork, and the fouettés, and one diagonal phrase in the studio. Honestly, 85 per cent of that movie is Natalie.
'[I made] things fluid and not too complicated,' he said of the choreography.
'By getting more movement going, which in turn added to the camera movement - that is basically what I did. If we had kept things more classical, more restrained, less fluid, it would have been harder to trick the eye.'
Helping hand: Natalie Portman used a dance double for certain Black Swan scenes it was revealed todayNatalie began dancing when she was a child and talked openly about the rigorous five-hour-a-day dance training she underwent for a year before filming.
'She definitely put her work in,' Prosa, one of her dance doubles, told the Huffington Post.
'Just in a couple of months, she looked credible - all the dancers on the set were really impressed at how well she pulled that off - it was pretty amazing.'
source: dailymail
