SAG Award for actress won by Natalie Portman for “Black Swan”

The Screen Actors Guild Award for Actress has been won by Natalie Portman for her role in Black Swan. This was her first SAG nomination and win.

“To all the actresses in this category and their performances, I’m so humbled to be among you,” Natalie Portman said. “I’ve been acting since 11 years and SAG has looked after me and protected me everyday.”

The other nominees were Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right, Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole, Jennifer Lawrence in Winter’s Bone and Hilary Swank in Conviction.

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Black Swan is a 2010 American film directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, and Mila Kunis. Described as a psychological thriller or a psychological horror film, its plot revolves around a production of Swan Lake by a prestigious New York City ballet company. As is usual with all productions of the ballet, the production requires a ballerina to play both the innocent White Swan and the sensual Black Swan. One dancer, Nina (Portman), is a perfect fit for the White Swan, while Lily (Kunis) has a personality that matches the Black Swan. When the two compete for the parts, Nina finds a dark side to herself.

Aronofsky conceived the premise by connecting his viewings of an actual production of Swan Lake with an unrealized screenplay about understudies and the notion of being haunted by a double, similar to the folklore surrounding doppelgängers. The director also considered Black Swan a companion piece to his 2008 film The Wrestler, with both films involving demanding performances for different kinds of art. He and Portman first discussed the project in 2000, and after a brief attachment to Universal Pictures, Black Swan was produced in New York City in 2009 by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Portman and Kunis trained in ballet for several months prior to filming and notable figures from the ballet world helped with film production to shape the ballet presentation. The film premiered as the opening film for the 67th Venice International Film Festival on September 1, 2010. It had a limited release in the United States starting December 3, 2010 and a nationwide release on December 17.

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