Tackling the role of a ballerina didn't come easy for Kunis who admits making the dancing scenes look both sensual and effortless was extremely difficult. "It was three months of training beforehand," revealed Kunis. "I was not a ballet dancer. I think most of the training, you can only fake so much, the physicality, and so you have to kind of immerse yourself in this world in a way that somebody walks and talks and handles themselves. 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 Kunis Black Swan Press Conference
Were there little details that you picked up along the way that made you feel more like a dancer?Mila Kunis: "Yeah. A lot of things change, your body changes. Okay, 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. So 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."
You're known for roles that are very different from this. The Family Guy, That '70's Show, comedies... Can you talk about getting cast in this and also how you approached the role once you knew you had it?
Mila Kunis: "'70's ended about five or six years ago, so it's been a while. The Family Guy, yes. This seems like a better question for Darren [Aronofsky]. I don't know how or why I got hired. I never really asked. I didn't want him to second guess himself and so I just kind of went with it. I said, 'All right, if you trust me I'm game.' So that's pretty much all it was. It's probably a better question for Darren, but it was an amazing opportunity, which I don't regret and never want to question. So I thank him every day for it."
Had you ever seen a full version of Swan Lake before you get involved in this process?
Mila Kunis: "I did not get an opportunity to see a full version of Swan Lake until about a year ago. I think that every time I went to see ballet was always a fragment of it, like a Black Swan, and so I was never able to see it in full length."
How was working with Darren Aronofsky?
Mila Kunis: "Working with Darren was truly one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I mean, he's a brilliant director and it's a rarity when you come across somebody that you trust so much and you can just immerse yourself in a role and feel like there's a safety net underneath you in case you fall. So I always looked at Darren as a safety net. He was great. He was absolutely great."
How many same sex scenes have you had in your career and when you do these things do you worry about being exploited by the filmmaker?
Mila Kunis: "How many same sex scenes have I done? Well, I did a film called After Sex with Zoe Saldana where she played my girlfriend. We never had a sex scene. We had like what occurs after you have sex and so I guess maybe that doesn't count, so this would be my first."
"And as far as being exploited, I again go back to your question previously about working with Darren. I trusted him. So it's one of those things where whether you have a same sex scene or a scene with the opposite sex, a sex scene nonetheless there's always a fear that you're a little uncomfortable. And so doing something like this with Darren is very safe and as comfortable as something like this could be. So, no. I personally never had a fear of being exploited."
There are many realities in the film for the characters. Did you have different direction for those scenes, a different way that you played them or was it all the same?
Mila Kunis: "It was the farthest thing from continual. I think that Darren touched on it yesterday, but I think that whenever Natalie [Portman] and I were in the same scene, I'm pretty sure that we did it about every which way possible. So whatever she would do I would do the opposite because the truth of the matter is that as much as we worked on the script, and as much rehearsal you did, you didn't even know what was going to be played. It was all so finicky and you just tried to give as much as you could in every single take, and every single take was completely different. So, to answer your question, there was nothing continuous."
Have you ever done a role where you had to go so far into the character that you had to pull yourself back? And if so, what do you do to maintain a balance?
Mila Kunis: "I feel like every role that you take you feel or there's a part of you that obviously feels like you can do it...I don't know if perfect is the right word because I don't believe in perfection and I don't think it exists, but I think striving to do something well is in every single part. So, yeah, you go through that."
"I think this one to me, the physicality of it was probably the hardest of anything that I've ever done, I think, when it comes to characters. When it's a comedy or drama or horror or romance, it's all the same. You want to be honest with the character. You want to play truthfully and you want to be genuine with your character. The physicality aspect of it, that was the closest that I ever came to just a complete mental breakdown."
When you saw the film for the first time, what was your feeling? How did you respond to it?
Mila Kunis: "How did I respond to it the first time? I saw it a couple of times. The first time that I saw it, it was very, very, very rough and I was like, 'Oh, that's the movie we made?' Then the final cut that I saw I was blown away by it. I mean, I was there and I remembered most of it, I would say, but I had no idea how Darren was shooting it because the way he shoots the camera is really a part of the movie. So you truly forget that there's a camera there because it a whole other character. And so I was blown away by it and I was there. So I was like, 'This is pretty amazing.'"
Did you cry when you saw it?
Mila Kunis: "Did I cry? No. I'm sorry. I could say yes and lie, but no, I'm not going to cry. I kind of knew how it was going to end. I'm pretty sure that I was there for that scene for 12 hours. It's embedded in my head. I did not cry."
Can you talk about how you and Natalie prepared beforehand and got comfortable with doing the intimate scenes that you do in this movie?
Mila Kunis: "Well, any time that you do any intimate scene on film it's going to be a little uncomfortable, whether it's the same sex or opposite sex. I think the great thing about this was that Natalie and I were actually lucky enough to be friends prior to production, which made it all a lot easier. We didn't really discuss it very much. We just kind of did it. It made sense for the character. It wasn't put in for shock value. It wasn't something that we needed to justify in our heads as to why we were doing it and that was it. But the truth of the matter is that we were friends before we started it, so with that it made it a lot easier."
You had all this training, a strict workout regimen and diet. How relieved were you when it was all over so that you could go get a pizza?
Mila Kunis: "Oh my God, you have no idea. It took me five months to lose 20 pounds and it took me hours to gain it back. I mean it was magical how quickly it all happened. I think before production ended the last time, I think, that I had to do any sort of dancing I literally that night had a massive bowl of mac and cheese. I was so excited. I will tell you that going back to my poor eating habits after having really good eating habits my stomach was a little unsettled. But after production ended the first thing I did was go and get Panda Express at the airport terminal at Virgin America at JFK, and I was so excited. Then I landed in L.A. and I got in my car and I drove to In and Out and I had a Double Double Animal Style with a root-beer float and it was fantastic. That is what I did. It was good."
We see these characters struggle with eating disorders due to the pressure of their art. Have you seen that in Hollywood, people striving to achieve a certain look and falling prey to those pressures?
Mila Kunis: "Yeah, I mean both. I think sadly in any industry and in any work-related environments females always strive to achieve a certain amount of perfection, whether they be skinny or pretty. It's constant in our society. So I think it's probably elevated a little bit in the industry that I'm in because everything is a matter of opinion. I can think someone is pretty but the person next to me can think that they're unattractive. So people strive to achieve a certain form of perfection constantly, and it's impossible because it's a form of opinion. So, I've had a lot of friends that unfortunately get that."
Do you consider yourself a Black Swan or a White Swan and why?
Mila Kunis: "I think a little bit of both. I think everyone has a little Black Swan in them. It's just a matter of when you let it out. But I would say a healthy balance of both. I would hope. I'm not nearly as adventurous as a Black Swan. Not nearly, but at times I would like to be."
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Black Swan hits theaters on December 3, 2010 and is rated R for strong sexual content, disturbing violent images, language and some drug use.
