By Sarah Sluis
A rare occurrence: not one, but two projects that I'll look forward to seeing at the multiplex were announced today:
The star/director package of Natalie Portman and Darren Aronofsky will take on Black Swan, a supernatural thriller set in the New York dance world--think The Others' Red Shoes. Portman will play a ballet dancer lost in a competition with a rival--but she may or may not exist, a twist which has drawn comparisons to The Others. One hopes that Aronoksky is a fan of The Red Shoes (1948), the famous dance-focused drama that gave dancing an almost supernatural power, tying it back to the drama of the story. With a character dancing to her suicide, it's a shivery mix of dark and light that I hope the director will turn to as he develops the project.
As for the talent:
-Natalie Portman already looks like a dancer. She's done just about every genre, but I don't see a supernatural thriller in her IMDB history, so we'd get to see her take on something a bit different. She shaved her head in V for Vendetta, and wore that weird head gear in Star Wars, so she's willing to change herself physically for her roles--I imagine her being able to look even more ballerina-esque.
-Darren Aronofsky knows how to work and direct actors physically. He's exceptional at highlighting physical pain, whether it's Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler or all the various addicts in Requiem for a Dream.
-There's a dearth of good supernatural thrillers, movies that are creepy without being horror films. I loved The Others, The Orphanage (a Spanish film), What Lies Beneath, Ghost, and even The Skeleton Key. The problem is, without going to straight horror, you have to work a lot harder to create quality suspense, my guess as to why there aren't more Rosemary's Baby-type films out there.
In the other big announcement of today, Leonardo DiCaprio will star in an online poker film. The offshore casino, which figures into the plot, is in Costa Rica. The writing team behind Rounders and 
Ocean's 13, Brian Koppelman and David Levien, penned the project, so it comes from people experienced at writing pages about card sharks. I'm always interested in projects that pivot around the Internet, because the act of staring at a screen is so unexciting directors and screenwriters have to be quite creative. How many times have you watched a character who is himself watching a computer screen loading? It tends to inspire either total boredom or complete slickness. Somehow, I'm seeing this project as having more of a Miami Vice slickness rather than a Vegas polish, perhaps because of the Costa Rica location. While I'd prefer not to see Don Johnson-inspired wardrobing, DiCaprio can sell me on just about everything--except maybe the clunker Body of Lies.
I generally stated, "life is like a publication, how would you like to write, it can be what kind of book. So our very own attitude determines living. Naturally, we should really go through a lot more meaningful guide, it can give us inspiration.
ReplyDeletehis often involves having lights on timers to prevent a house from being dark in the evening even when empty, and having a neighbor.
ReplyDelete