TORONTO: Aronofsky compares ?Black Swan? to ?The Wrestler?

Darren Aronofsky sees a connection between his film "The Wrestler," which premiered at the Toronto fest in 2008, and his new film, "Black Swan," a psychological horror-thriller set in the world of ballet.
" 'Black Swan, being the highest art and wrestling being the lowest," the filmmaker said at a press conference. "Both use bodies in extreme way to entertain." He further joked, "My dream is that they both play in art theaters as a double feature."
Aronofsky was joined by scriptwriter Mark Heyman and cast members Vincent Cassel, Winona Ryder, Barbara Hershey and Natalie Portman, who plays the lead ballerina suffering mental and physical deterioration.

Portman studied ballet until age 12, after which her film career took over. "I started again now at age 27," she said. Preparation for film required one year's training and "lots of carrot sticks and almonds," as she put it. Hershey and Ryder revealed that they'd had no ballet training and Cassel only until age 7. "I stopped because it was too painful," he said.
Even though Aronofsky's previous film, "The Wrestler," picked up awards and did well at the box office, he had difficulty financing "Swan," he said. "The serious black hole of film financing made it difficult, and the money fell apart many times." With a stellar cast on board, the filmmaker said that eventually, "Fox Searchlight saved us."
Portman recalled that the filmmaker approached her with the idea eight years ago when she was in college. "What Darren told me that day in the dorm, is the same movie now."
On working with Aronofsky, Portman finds him completely focused. "He's tuned to every subtle detail of performers and camera. He's as sharp at 6 p.m. on Friday as he is on 6 a.m. on Monday." However, the actress would like to see him make bigger-budget movies. "So we're not freezing in cold tents between takes," she laughed.
Cassel compared Aronofsky to the French New Wave. "He has French qualities," he said of the director, who also believes in collaborating with the actors. "He asked me to pick out the furniture for my character's apartment," Cassel said.
Aronofsky recalled that his first film, "Pi," was made for a mere $60,000, and he realizes it's a tough time to be in the independent business. "But independent film will always be around," he said.
And why should people see this film? "It's fucking great," Aronofsky. "We try to make films that blow people away."

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