Kunis says 'Black Swan' was exhausting

12/12/2010

Black Swan, the most shocking, bleakly beautiful, relentlessly morbid film of 2010, stars Natalie Portman as a ballerina possibly driven mad by the expectations placed on her. She is mighty impressive in her taut torment. (Moira Shearer in The Red Shoes had it easy compared to Miss Portman's agonies. And Moira ended up on the railroad tracks!)

Black Swan's other ballerina, Mila Kunis, has also made her mark in this movie. She plays a more relaxed, free-spirited dancer — disingenuous, tattooed, and deceptive, perhaps — but extremely appealing.

I had a lightning-fast chat with Mila last week. She called from London, in the midst of another premiere and all the attendant press duties.

Portman trained for a year to get in proper form. Mila not so long (she does less dancing) but she still had to look convincingly ballerina-like. “Oh, my God. It was exhausting. I've never been through anything like that. You have to call on the masochistic elements in your personality. And if you don't have any, get some!”

Mila will next be seen in the feature Friends with Benefits co-starring former pop star Justin Timberlake and Patricia Clarkson. It's a comedy. “I need one after Black Swan.”

Mila, the world is your oyster. Go ahead and laugh.