Starlets Unite as Rival Ballerinas
We're excited as can be over the news that two films -- one just released, and one just announced -- are uniting five wonderful current and former young actresses, and incidentally, all of them will be playing rival ballerinas.
Black Swan, released today, December 3, stars Natalie Portman as an obsessive ballet dancer who vies against young newcomer Mila Kunis to replace prima ballerina Winona Ryder in a production of Swan Lake. The two rivals turn their competition into a twisted, reckless friendship that supposedly includes a makeout scene between Natalie and Mila. Winona, meanwhile, in an equally powerful performance, turns into an alcoholic wreck as she watches herself be replaced.
Natalie, Mila, and Winona all underwent intense ballet training for the film, and Mila even lost over 20 pounds to play the role. But it's Natalie who's generating the biggest Oscar buzz, with Swan Lake making her a frontrunner for Best Actress in 2011. These three ladies have come a long way -- Winona made her film debut at age 14 in Lucas (1986), Natalie at age 12 in Leon: The Professional (1994), and Mila was cast in the hit That '70s Show at age 14 (she told the casting directors she was 17) -- and we can't wait to see them onscreen together.
Meanwhile, two younger child actresses are about to put their own spin on a similar story. It was recently announced that Chloe Moretz, age 13, and Bailee Madison, 11, will play rival ballet students in The Dance of the Mirlitons, tentatively set for release in 2011. Bailee plays an ambitious, slightly overweight young ballerina with a overbearing stage mother who will stop at nothing to make her a star. (It's rumored that Bailee will wear a fat suit similar to Abigail Breslin's in Little Miss Sunshine.) Chloe plays her rival, the older, prettier star pupil of the class. Jackie Earle Haley, whom we remember as Tatum O'Neal's boyfriend in The Bad News Bears, costars as their ballet instructor.
The Dance of the Mirlitons is being billed as a Mean Girls-style dark comedy. Its title refers to a dance sequence in the classic ballet story The Nutcracker. Shooting will begin in 2011, as soon as Chloe wraps Martin Scorcese's Hugo Cabret.