Natalie Portman says she 'misplaced a rib' while filming “Black Swan”
- - Natalie Portman says she 'misplaced a rib' while filming “Black Swan”
Raechal ShewfeltJanuary 28, 2026 at 12:57 AM
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Natalie Portman plays a ballerina in 'Black Swan'
Niko Tavernise/Fox Searchlight
Natalie Portman worked hard for that Oscar.
The actress, who received an Academy Award for the 2010 movie Black Swan, explains in a clip from Wednesday's episode of The Drew Barrymore Show that she sustained an injury while playing a ballerina losing her grasp on reality in the psychological thriller.
"I misplaced a rib or something," Portman says when asked about the worst injury she endured during filming. "It, like, went under. It was from being lifted all the time. That was really wild."
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Directed by Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan costars Mila Kunis, Winona Ryder, Barbara Hershey, and Vincent Cassel. Portman's character, Nina Sayers, spends much of the movie dancing.
In an official featurette about the film, Aronofsky spoke about Portman's "really hard job" of not only acting, but moving precisely for the camera.
Natalie Portman attends the 2026 Sundance Film Festival
Dia Dipasupil/Getty
Former New York City Ballet dancer Mary Helen Bower, who worked with the actress, offered her own take.
"The idea is, if you're going to play a ballerina, you're going to have to train like one," Bower said.
She praised Portman as "so devoted" and explained that their sessions together regularly lasted five hours a day, six days a week.
"We're meeting at 5, 5:30 in the morning, doing ballet for two or three hours," Bower said. "She goes and works a 12-hour day and meets me at the gym at night, and we're doing our toning exercises and swimming a mile. And then she goes home and goes to sleep and then we get up the next day and do it again. And this is six days a week for months and months and months leading up to the movie."
Portman was also nominated for her lead actress role in 2016's Jackie, in which she played the former first lady, and for the 2004 Mike Nichols drama Closer, in which she had a supporting role, alongside Julia Roberts, Jude Law, and Clive Owen.
When this year's Oscar nominees were announced, the movie Arco, to which Portman lent her voice, was among the nominees for Best Animated Feature Film, which we assume required less vigorous training.
The Drew Barrymore Show airs weekdays. Check local listings.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
