Mila Kunis: My body has been transformed because of Black Swan

Actress Mila Kunis says her body changed due to to her intensive training for new movie Black Swan. The star — who plays a ballerina in the movie, which also stars Natalie Portman – admits she wasn’t prepared for how “physically excruciating” she would find her dance lessons.

“A lot of things change, your body changes. Here’s the thing about ballet that I never knew about. It’s one of the most physically excruciating sports that I’ve ever been a part of, and I say sports because they train constantly, every single day,” she said.

“Your body changes. Your shoulders drop. Your chest opens up and there’s a certain posture that I naturally don’t have because I slouch.

“So for three months, every time I had to constantly stand up straight and the way that they hold their arms because they always move their fingers when they’re dancing, that also changes and it also changes the way that they talk in real life and amongst the feet being different because of the ballet stuff. So there are a lot of different things.

“It was far from effortless and sensual. It was three months of training beforehand. I was not a ballet dancer.

“So it was three months of training, seven days a week for four or five hours a day before production started and then during production it was pretty much exactly the same.”

Mila — who has been working in TV since she was 9 years old — recently revealed she considered changing professions after That ’70s Show ended.

“I was like, ‘Alright, this has been a god run, but I’m done’. I wanted to rethink my life for a minute because I didn’t think acting could be a career. This is the worst industry you can put yourself in because there’s no security whatsoever. I mean, none,” she said.

“The whole thing is based so much on opinion and nobody is wrong. That person can think I’m great, that person can think I suck, and they’re both right. I was like, ‘Can I really do this for the rest of my life?’

“What a lot of people don’t realize is that you make more money in TV than you will in film; it’s a very steady salary. An obscene amount of money gets given to you for, like… what? So I was 20, and I looked at my bank account and realized  that I was secure for the rest of my life. I was like, ‘I’m okay. I can go do other things now’.

“I had been happy being poor, so having money made no difference to me. I know people with money say that, but it’s the truth. Of course, it’s a blessing to feel like you have a roof over your head and not having to worry about where your next meal is coming from. But that blessing, I realized, comes at a price.

“I was contemplating whether I wanted to keep doing this or if I wanted to go and explore life. And I realized that acting is the one thing I love to do.

“I asked myself, ‘What else could I do that would make me happy? What else could I do where I wake up in the morning and think, ‘I get to work and do something great and have fun’? I couldn’t think of anything else. So I was like, ‘I’m stuck doing this because I actually, truly love it’.”