Will Natalie Portman Survive The Oscar Curse?

Fresh off her Golden Globe win, mom-to-be Natalie Portman is sure to shine this Sunday night at the 83rd Academy Awards. Favored to win the Best Actress Oscar for her performance in Black Swan, all eyes will be on the gorgeous 29-year-old actress. How will she dress her baby bump? Will she walk the red carpet with fiancé Benjamin Millepied?

But what's to come in the weeks following Hollywood's biggest night? Will another couple succumb to the 'Oscar curse' this year? Should she win an Oscar, will Amy Adams and fiancé Darren Le Gallo stay together? Will Natalie and Benjamin beat the curse after the trophy?

Continue reading about the fabulous women who have won Oscars and have split with their significant others shortly after their big win.

Sandra Bullock and Jesse James

From Oscar to Split: 1 week
Just one week after Sandra Bullock won the Academy Award for her performance in The Blind Side last year, we were all blindsided by the news of an affair between Sandy B's hubby, Jesse James, and heavily tattooed mistress, Michelle “Bombshell” McGee.

Could we have predicted this split? Sure, the motorcycle tycoon seemed an unlikely match for America's Sweetheart, but could there have been another obvious indicator? Did we forget about the Oscar curse?

Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes

From Oscar to Split: 1 year
When Kate Winslet won Best Actress in 2009 for The Reader, Winslet thanked her "wonderful husband and two beautiful children who let me do what I love and who love me just the way that I am." Just days after the 2010 Academy Awards, the mom-of-two announced the end of her 6 1/2-year marriage to the Oscar-winning filmmaker.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck

From Oscar to Split: 2 months
When Gwyneth Paltrow won her Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Shakespeare in Love, she was reportedly in love with Ben Affleck. The couple split two months later.

Hilary Swank and Chad Lowe

From Oscar to Split: 11 months
When Hilary Swank won her second Best Actress Oscar in 2005 for her performance in Million Dollar Baby, Hilary said to Chad, "You are my everything." But by January, she had announced her separation from her husband of eight years, citing his "substance-abuse."

Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend

From Oscar to Split: 6 years
As Charlize Theron accepted her Oscar for Monster in 2004, she thanked her longtime love Stuart Townsend: "I have to thank my incredible partner in crime. You are one hell of a partner to have. Thank you for standing by me." The couple ended their nine-year relationship in January 2010.

Halle Berry and Eric Benet

From Oscar to Split: 7 months
In 2002, Halle Berry took home the Best Actress Oscar for Monster's Ball. The gorgeous actress star stood by her man when he went to rehab for sex addiction. But seven months later, Halle announced her separation from her husband of three years.

Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe

From Oscar to Split: 7 months
Seven months after thanking her "wonderful husband" during her 2006 Best Actress acceptance speech for her performance in Walk the Line, Witherspoon filed for divorce from Phillippe and got joint custody of their two children, Ava and Deacon.

Julia Roberts and Benjamin Bratt

From Oscar to Split: 3 months
When Julia Roberts was awarded Best Actress for Erin Brockovich in 2001, she barely acknowledged her beau Benjamin Bratt in her speech. Just three months later, the couple of nearly four years called it quits.

Oscars Disqualify Clint Mansell's Score for 'Black Swan' & Others

While it does seem like quite an injustice, the ruling isn't all that surprising. Award Central is reporting that several motion picture scores have been disqualified from being considered for the Oscar for Best Original Score. In all cases, it's not a lack of quality, but rather an abundance of unoriginal music. The four films that will not be getting an Oscar love include Clint Mansell's haunting yet beautiful score for Black Swan, Carter Burwell's compositions for True Grit and the less prominent scores for both The Fighter and The Kids Are All Right. For details on why these scores have been disqualified from awards contention, keep reading below.

In the case of Black Swan and True Grit, they have both been excluded because they exist as "scores diluted by the use of tracked themes or other pre-existing music." Black Swan is adapted from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, and no matter how much creativity and beauty his score brought to the film, it's simply not "original" enough. The same can be said for True Grit which apparently bases most of its music on 19th century hymns and is therefore not sufficiently "original" as well. On the other end of the spectrum, apparently The King's Speech, which raised concerns because of prominent unoriginal classical-music excerpts, has been deemed eligible for the awards.

Meanwhile, both The Kids Are All Right (also composed by Burwell) and The Fighter (composed by Michael Brook) have been disqualified as scores that are "diminished in impact by the predominant use of songs." Since both of the film use various songs that make up more of a soundtrack than the motion picture score, these films apparently don't have enough music composed specifically for the film to be considered for an Oscar.  With several Best Picture contenders' scores out of the running, it's open season for any other composers to get the award this year. Maybe Alexandre Desplat will get two nominations for both The King's Speech and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I.

The Dancers Weigh In on ‘Black Swan’

Natalie Portman in “Black Swan.”

Tis the season when the Bagger has to go to other people’s holiday parties. On Monday night, we stopped by the Fox Searchlight party at the Hudson Hotel, where Sam Rockwell, Juliette Lewis and Darren Aronofsky mingled among hordes of Oscar bloggers and other media people out for the free drinks and trays of cheese. 

Anyway, we made a beeline for the mustachioed Mr. Aronofsky, drinking a beer from the bottle by the bar. Now that his movie “Black Swan” has opened across the country – doing impressively well at the box office, even in a limited release – the dance world has had a chance to respond. Aside from a discussion about judging bodies in ballet, it is the hot topic this week.

Wendy Whelan, the veteran principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, whom Mr. Aronofsky initially approached for research, was a skeptic turned fan. In The Daily Beast, she praised Natalie Portman’s performance as Nina Sayers, a ballerina torn apart psychologically by the pressures of “Swan Lake.”

“Dancers learn to take on these subtle head-trips every day,” Ms. Whelan wrote. “Going to those depths is a unique part of our job as performing artists.” The movie made her reflect on her entire career, she said.

“I thought it was absolutely awesome,” Ashley Bouder, a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet and prolific intermission Tweeter, wrote in The Huffington Post. But Ms. Bouder went on to acknowledge the pervasiveness of dance stereotypes – “the stage mom, the anorexic or bulimic, the other ballerina out to get your roles, the obsessive perfectionist, etc. They are all represented in this movie to an extreme level,” she wrote – and noted that the movie has “offended” some people.

In a blog post titled “Black Swan – Better Than I Thought, But…” Wendy Perron, the editor in chief of Dance Magazine, lists the convincing and unconvincing parts of the movie. Among the believable things: the perfectionism of the dancers and the little-girl voices in which they often speak.

“The artistic director Tom, who is supposedly choreographing his own version of Swan Lake, seems much more involved in mind games with his leading ladies than actually making a ballet,” she writes. “If he were really working on the choreography, he wouldn’t have time for those power trips.”

“I think it’s time for a dance movie with a happy ending,” Ms. Perron added. “Where a ballerina actually takes pleasure in performing. Where she stays psychologically on balance and enjoys camaraderie with her fellow dancers. Where she finds satisfaction in her career.”

At the Fox party, Mr. Aronofsky took the criticism from the dance world in stride. “It’s one story,”he said. “It’s Nina Sayers’ story, and ultimately, it’s not really about the dance world, it’s about ‘Swan Lake,’ ” Then he accused the Bagger of stirring up trouble. (Us? Never!)

“My feedback from dancers so far has been really positive,” he added. “I went to ‘The Nutcracker’ on Saturday with my son, and we went backstage, and there was Peter Martins and he came to say hi, and he said he hasn’t seen it, but we said, what are they saying, and he said, my dancers love it.”

For the record, the Bagger loved it, too. Even better: Mr. Aronofsky paid for his own tickets to “The Nutcracker.”

Black Swan Film

BLACK SWAN - Between the Dark and the Light Side

Everyone has a dark side and bright side, although usually only one of the dominant side.Nina (Natalie Portman) has a light side is more dominant, but at the time in a state of danger, the dark side of Nina began to emerge. The problem is, if Nina was ready to deal with the dark side that so far he never knew?

As well as Erica (Barbara Hershey), her mother, Nina is a talented ballet dancer.Nina's whole life is dedicated to dance ballet and she barely had time to do other activities. When Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel), dance performances ballet director,decided to see new talent for staging of Swan Lake, Nina is elected.

Unfortunately, at the same time Nina is also facing competition from a dancer named Lily (Mila Kunis), who also had a chance to become the main character in Swan Lake.Swan Lake's main character must be able to portray characters that innocent and graceful but at the same time sensual. Nina able to portray characters that appearinnocent but when it comes to sensual, Lily seems more fitting. Not wanting to take this opportunity taken by Lily, Nina had tried in every way to explore the dark side of her that was never touched.

Unfortunately when the dark side began to emerge, Nina also began to facedifficulties controlling the dark side of this.

Release Date   : December 1, 2010
Director           : Darren Aronofsky
Script              : Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, John McLaughlin
Producer         : Mike Medavoy, Scott Franklin, Arnold Messer, Brian Oliver
Distributor       : Fox Searchlight Pictures

Cast :

Natalie Portman : Nina Sayers / The Swan Queen

Mila Kunis : Lily / The Black Swan

Vincent Cassel : Thomas Leroy / The Gentleman

Barbara Hershey : Erica Sayers / The Queen

Winona Ryder : Beth Macintyre / The Dying Swan

Ksenia Solo : Veronica / Little Swan

Kristina Anapau : Galina / Little Swan

Janet Montgomery : Madeline / Little Swan

Sebastian Stan :  Andrew / Suitor

Toby Hemingway : Tom / Suitor

Black Swan

Articel of Ballet

Ballet is a kind of formal performance dance, which originated from Italian Renaissance Courts of the 15th century, and which was developed in France, England, and Russia like a concert dance.The early invention of the proscenium  stage and were presented in large chambers with the audience seat on tiers on three sides of the dance floor.This dance performed with the instrument of classical music and become influential in the world . Ballet has been taught in ballet schools around the world, which use their own cultures and many people to inform the art. Ballet dance works are choreographed and performed by trained artists, include mime and acting, and set to music (usually orchestral or vocal). It is a style of dance that incorporates the foundational techniques from many other dance.This type of dancing is very hard to achieve and take much practice to become master.


Ballet divided into 3 types:
1. Classical ballet

         Classical ballet is methodical of the ballet styles. It adheres to traditional
    ballet technique. There are many variations related to area of origin, such as
    Russian ballet, French ballet, and Italian ballet. Although most ballet of the last
    two centuries is founded on the teachings of Blasis. The most popular 
    of method styles of ballet are the Russian Method, the Italian Method, the 
    Danish Method,the Balanchine Method or New York City Ballet Method, 
    and the Royal Academy of Dance and Royal Ballet School methods, derived
    from the Cecchetti method, created in England.


    The pointe shoes were rigid at the tip. It would allow the girl to stand on her toes
    to appear weightless. It was later converted to the hard box that is used today.

    Classical ballet adheres to these rules:
      * Everything is turned-out.
      * When the feet are not on the floor, they're pointed.
      * When the leg is not bent, it's stretched completely.
      * Posture and placement is vital.
 

2. Neoclassical ballet

         Neoclassical ballet  is a ballet style that uses traditional ballet vocabulary 
    but is less rigid than the classical ballet. For example, dancers often dance at 
    more extreme tempo and perform more technical. Spacing in neoclassical ballet
    is usually more modern or complex than in classical ballet. Although 
    organization in neoclassical ballet is more variated, the focus on structure is 
    a characteristic of neoclassical ballet.

3. Contemporary ballet

         Contemporary ballet is a form of dance influenced by both classical ballet 
    and modern dance. It takes it's technique and use of pointe work from classical
    ballet, although it permits a range of movement that may not adhere to the strict
    body lines set forth by schools of ballet technique. Many of its concepts 
    come from the idea and innovations of 20th century modern dance. George 
    Balanchine is considered to have been the first pioneer of contemporary 
    ballet through the development of neoclassical ballet. One dancer who danced
    briefly for Balanchine was Mikhail Baryshnikov, an example of Kirov 
    Ballet training.

         Today there are many contemporary ballet companies and choreographers. 
    These include Alonzo King and his company, Alonzo King's Lines Ballet, 
    Complexions Contemporary Ballet, under the direction of  Dwight Rhoden, 
    Nacho Duato's Compania Nacional de Danza, William Forsythe who has 
    worked extensively with the Frankfurt Ballet and today runs The Forsythe 
    Company, and Jiri Kylian now the artistic director of the Nederlands Dans 
    Theatre.

The Black Swan Ballet 

         The Borovansky Ballet temporarily end in 1948.When financial assistance 

    from the J. C. Williamson organisation was withdrawn. The company did not 

    reform until 1951 and Edouard Borovansky returned to Melbourne, join his wife

    Xenia in teaching at their school. In 1949 Borovansky's Educational Ballet Club  

    was form in celebration of ten years of Borovansky productions. The Club presented

    its first program in the studio theatre at the Borovanskys' Roma House studio in 

    Melbourne. On the program was a revival of Frederick Ashton's Facade, a 

    choreographed by Xenia Borovansky, Impressions, and the premiere of a new 

    ballet by Edouard Borovansky,The Black Swan.

         The Black Swan was Borovansky's second ballet on an Australian theme, 

    following on from his Terra Australis of 1946. Danced to music by Sibelius 

    and with designs by William Constable, The Black Swan was base on an historical

    incident in 1697 when a Captain Vlaming from the Dutch East India Company 

    discovered and give the island name Rottnest Island and the river on which the city 
    of Perth now stands. He was particularly struck by the number of black swans on
    the river and his crew captured several and took them back to Java. A libretto, 
    written round this incident by M. Millet, told the story of the Captain

    entranced by a black swan, symbol of a new land.

         In the 1949 performances Eve Gordon danced the Black Swan, Kenneth Gillespie
    performed as Lieutenant Brandt of Captain Vlaming's crew, Ole Nielsen was Captain
    Vlaming and Joy MacPherson Villemine the Captain's daughter. The work was 
    restage in 1950, both in the Roma House studio and at the Union Theatre of the 
    University of Melbourne, when Edna Busse took the role of the Black Swan. 

    When the Borovansky Ballet reformed for it's 1951 season The Black Swan was 
    revived and presented on the program of 1 June with Busse as the Black Swan, 
    Gillespie as Brandt, John Auld as the Captain and Dorothy Stevenson as Villemine. 

 

The Black Swan at 2010

         At 1 September until 11 September 2010  Ballet Black Swan  
    used  to open Venice film festival.Natalie Portman Portman plays a ballerina
    in the film Psychological thriller Black Swan, starring Natalie Portman, will 
    open this year's Venice film festival. The film, from US director Darren Aronofsky, 

    also features Vincent Cassel and Winona Ryder.It centres on the rivalry between
    two dancers at ballet company in New York. The Venice festival runs from
    1-11 September. The will be unveiled later this month.

    The Black Swan Trailer

2010

 

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