Movies
Aronofsky Takes on the Supernatural in ‘Black Swan’
I’m dying for Darren Aronofsky to do something mainstream. While I have high hopes for RoboCop, it’s pretty exciting to see him developing something original as well. Some good news hit the Hollywood Reporter last night as they broke the news that Aronofsky’s long-gestured Black Swan could soon be taking flight – thanks to Natalie Portman. Read on for the skinny.
After being set up in early 2007 at Universal, the project — a supernatural thriller set in the world of New York City ballet — has been reconstituted after being put into turnaround by the studio. It has been making the rounds to studios and specialty divisions, several of which are keenly interested.
Among the elements giving it a boost: Natalie Portman is attached to play the lead.
Several other changes have occurred since the Aronofsky-helmed project was first developed by Universal.
Mark Heyman, a development exec at Aronofsky’s Protozoa Pictures, has done a rewrite of John McLaughlin’s original script for the pic, which Mike Medavoy’s Phoenix Pictures and Protozoa are producing.
Aronofsky, meanwhile, has gone on to helm the critical and commercial favorite “The Wrestler,” putting him in high demand.
“Swan” centers on a veteran ballerina (Portman) who finds herself locked in a competitive situation with a rival dancer, with the stakes and twists increasing as the dancers approach a big performance. But it’s unclear whether the rival is a supernatural apparition or if the protagonist is simply having delusions.
Those who’ve read the script say it’s a spine-tingler with elements of “The Others,” the Nicole Kidman breakout in which viewers are left to discern what’s real and what’s imagined.
If a sale happens imminently, “Swan” could begin shooting as early as this year. Aronofsky has not committed to a movie that’s ready to go, though he has been developing the “Robocop” reboot at MGM.
The classic tale of Hansel & Gretel has been brought to the screen a handful of times over the years, and now an upcoming stop motion animated film has attracted some A-list talent.
Variety reports that Ari Aster (Hereditary, Midsommar) and Lars Knudsen have boarded the Hansel & Gretel movie as executive producers through their company Square Peg.
Chilean filmmakers Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña (The Hyperboreans) are directing. Variety notes, “The story is expected to twist the fairy tale into inimitable shapes.”
The duo co-directed the stop motion movie The Wolf House back in 2018, and they also worked in the animation department on Ari Aster’s most recent movie, Beau Is Afraid.
“It’s our very personal adaptation of the classic fairy tale, with the main difference that Hansel and Gretel are both boys in this version, at least at the beginning of the story,” Cristóbal León explained. In this telling, “the story itself gets lost,” León added.
“Cociña and León are among the true originals working in animation right now. You can trace their sensibility back to several artists of the uncanny, but there is no real analogue for the effect that their work produces in the viewer,” Aster told the website.
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