After resurrecting Mickey Rourke’s career with The Wrestler in 2008 director Darren Aronofsky decided his next movie would be Black Swan, a movie that follows a ballet dancer who forms a twisted friendship with a rival dancer. This decision had some meaning, however, as in a recent interview Aronofsky revealed that if things worked out differently both The Wrestler and Black Swan would have been the same movie.
From MTV:
“I’ve always considered the two films companion pieces,” he said in an exclusive interview. “They are really connected and people will see the connections. It’s funny, because wrestling some consider the lowest art — if they would even call it art — and ballet some people consider the highest art. But what was amazing to me was how similar the performers in both of these worlds are. They both make incredible use of their bodies to express themselves.”
The tie between the two has roots that go back more than 10 years, to a time when Aronofsky had a vision for a film that would put these at-odds art forms into close contact with one another.
“At one point, way before I made ‘The Wrestler,’ I was actually developing a project that was about a love affair between a ballet dancer and a wrestler, and then it kind of split off into two movies,” he said. “So I guess my dream is that some art theater will play the films as a double feature some day.”
Aronofsky goes on to say he was talking to Natalie Portman about Black Swan a decade ago when the actress was busy with the Star Wars franchise, so it really has taken a while to get this movie made.
Black Swan will be screening at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals this year and will be released by Fox Searchlight on December 1st. You can check out the trailer here!
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