Black Swan
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Cutting for Story: Editor Andrew Weisblum in Conversation
Thelma Schoonmaker and Martin Scorsese. Walter Murch and Francis Ford Coppola. Tim Squyres and Ang Lee. For many an editor, these longtime creative partnerships represent the most alluring and elusive of career ideals. For editor Andrew Weisblum, that ideal is well on the way to becoming a reality — twice over. Since 2007, Weisblum has cut all of both Wes Anderson’s and Darren Aronofsky’s feature films, ranging in style from the witty charm of Fantastic Mr. Fox to the demented psychodrama of Black Swan (for which Weisblum was Oscar nominated). Kicking off this year’s Manhattan Edit Workshop series “Inside the […]
by Heather von Rohr on Feb 27, 2013 -
“BLACK SWAN” WINS BIG AT SPIRIT AWARDS
The Film Independent Spirit Awards just wrapped (see it on IFC tonight @ 10ET) and Darren Aronofsky‘s thriller Black Swan was the big winner taking home four awards, including Best Feature, Best Director for Aronofsky and Best Female Lead for Natalie Portman. Winter’s Bone won the supporting acting prizes with John Hawkes taking it for actor and Dale Dickey for actress while James Franco won Best Male Lead for 127 Hours, Banksy‘s Exit through the Gift Shop won Best Documentary and Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg won Best Screenplay for The Kids Are All Right. Also, “25 New Face” alum […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Feb 26, 2011 -
TURN OUT: DARREN ARONOFSKY’S “BLACK SWAN”
This piece was originally printed in the Fall 2010 issue. Black Swan is nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (Darren Aronofsky), Best Actress (Natalie Portman), Best Cinematography (Matthew Libatique), Best Editing (Andrew Weisblum). Darren Aronofsky was developing a project based on Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s 1846 novella, The Double, when he happened to go to a production of another Russian work, Swan Lake, the 1875 ballet composed by Peter Tchaikovsky. Seeing the ballet’s White Swan and Black Swan played by the same ballerina, Aronofsky experienced what he called a “Eureka” moment, realizing that The Double’s themes of splintering identity and […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 25, 2011 -
IFP ANNOUNCES SCRIPT TO SCREEN CONFERENCE LINEUP
The IFP announced today the lineup for this year’s Script to Screen Conference. Taking place March 5, the event will take place at 92Y Tribeca in New York City. This year’s keynotes include Barry Levinson and Black Swan screenwriter Mark Heyman. There will also be a discussion on new platforms for writers with Onion News Network head writer Carol Kolb, a conversation with producer Ted Hope and the filmmakers behind Sundance hit Martha Marcy May Marlene talk about creative teamwork. To learn more about the conference and how to get tickets go to http://www.ifp.org/script-to-screen-conference/ Read the press release on Script […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Feb 22, 2011 -
Darren Aronofsky’s Top 5 Books On The Movies
Over at The Browser, Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky names and discusses his top five books on films and filmmaking. There’s an obvious one (Sidney Lumet’s Making Movies), an unexpected autobiography (Kirk Douglas’s The Ragman’s Son), and then the following screenplay tome. From Aronofsky’s piece: The Writer’s Journey, Christopher Vogler. It’s the Bible for screenwriters. I think it’s the best book on how to write a screenplay ever written. It helped me get through so many roadblocks as a writer. Vogler adapted the work of Joseph Campbell, an American academic, to the art of screenwriting. Vogler’s approach to screenwriting was […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 11, 2011 -
Into the Splice: Black Swan
Things didn’t bode well from the beginning. The crowd in the theater was restive. People shifted uncomfortably in their seats even before the movie began. I was alone, and sat in the back, the projector whirring somewhere above and behind me. But that was only the beginning. As it turns out, I had been editing Alla Gadassik’s remarkable video-essay for the Requiem // 102 project, and had learned of an obscure Italian Jennifer Connelly film from 1988, Etoile (directed by Peter Del Monte), which also happens to be a nightmarish film about Swan Lake that also features a monstrous black […]
by Nicholas Rombes on Jan 10, 2011 -
“BLACK SWAN” CHOREOGRAPHER IN ROMANTIC TANGO SHORT
Director Asa Mader and choreographer Benjamin Millepied, currently being celebrated for his choreography for Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, have collaborated on a short starring Millepied and French actress Lea Seydoux. (Update: Millepied is also being reported as Natalie Portman’s fiance and the father of her baby.) From Nowness: After meeting at a dinner one night about five years ago, director Asa Mader and current principal of the New York City Ballet Benjamin Millepied struck up a friendship. “We immediately had a connection,” says Mader. The duo subsequently holed up over a long weekend in the Hamptons (they stayed at the […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 12, 2010 -
The Perfect Swan
(Editor’s Note: This essay contains spoilers.) In literature or in oratory, where rhetoric arose from, it’s somewhat difficult to separate the argument’s mode of persuasion from its substance. In order to make an entirely skilled rhetorical point, the writer or speaker will have to present a series of assumptions and assertions, facts and hypotheses, in such a way that makes the argument’s substance apparent. That’s why literature lends itself to the intellectual: it’s founded upon a progression of ideas. Cinema is often referred to as a different kind of linguistic medium (the “language of film”), but a linguistic one nevertheless, […]
by Zachary Wigon on Dec 10, 2010 -
“BLACK SWAN” TRAILER
Looks like vintage Aronofsky. Can’t wait to see it. What do you think?
by Jason Guerrasio on Aug 17, 2010 -
VENICE COMPETITION TITLES ANNOUNCED
The Venice Film Festival have announced their slate of competition films vying for the Golden Lion. Included in the list is the opening night film, Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan as well as Kelly Reichart‘s Meek’s Cutoff and Sofia Coppola‘s Somewhere. Also announced are out of competition titles The Town, directed by Ben Affleck; little brother Casey Affleck’s documentary on Joaquin Phoenix, I’m Still Here; and Robert Rodriguez’s Machete. The festival runs Sept. 1-11. The full list of titles are below. “Attenberg,” Athina Rachel Tsangari, Greece “Barney’s Version,” Richard J. Lewis, Canada/Italy “Black Swan,” Darren Aronofsky, USA “Black Venus,” Abdellatif Kechiche, […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jul 29, 2010
