Mila Kunis Was ‘Weirdly Grateful’ That ‘Black Swan’ Lost Money Before Filming
Mila Kunis has long been a fan-favorite actor, ever since bursting onto the scene in the beloved comedy series That ’70s Show. She has been a mainstay in the entertainment industry since the early 2000s, making a name for herself as a comedic actor. Still, Kunis has appeared in a number of dramatic productions as well, including the notorious 2010 drama Black Swan.
While the film received critical acclaim for all the actors involved, including Kunis, it was beset with problems from start to finish, including a short budget that nearly caused Black Swan to get canned. As the star revealed in a recent interview with Vanity Fair, she’s “oddly grateful” for that fact.
‘Black Swan’ was a controversial drama
Black Swan was a headline-making movie when it was released in 2010. The film tells the story of a dedicated and hardworking ballerina named Nina, played by Natalie Portman, as well as her rival in the company, Lily, portrayed by Kunis. According to IMDb, Nina slowly descends into madness as she finds herself competing for the highly-desired role of the Black Swan.
As Lily, Kunis had to tap into a new side of herself, portraying a character who isn’t quite what she seems. As a result of everyone’s hard work, Black Swan earned major critical acclaim, including five Academy Award nominations. To this day, it is one of Kunis’ best-known dramatic films.
Why Mila Kunis was ‘oddly grateful’ the ‘Black Swan’ production was delayed
The process of making Black Swan was far from easy, and director Darren Aronofsky had to struggle to get his movie made. As Kunis told Vanity Fair, “it was one of those where you didn’t know what you were making, you kind of hoped people would get it. You just didn’t know. Shot it for $1. We lost all our budget the day before production. Darren, I don’t know how, found money magically, we were able to shoot.”
The actor went on to joke that “so much of our shooting was done illegally ’cause we didn’t have permits, ’cause we were a broke production.” Kunis was required to train like a ballet dancer for her role as Lily, a difficult process that took months. “I was like, No, I can’t,” she said of the training. “But I did it. And luckily because we lost money, we were able to push production three months, which gave me three more months to get on point. So for that, I’ll always be oddly grateful for it, that we lost money initially.”
Mila Kunis committed to a tough diet for her role in ‘Black Swan’
Kunis didn’t just have to train like a ballet dancer, but she had to look like one as well. In order to achieve the look that Aronofsky required, she was forced to follow a very strict diet. As Kunis told Howard Stern, she actually got down to about 95 pounds when it was time to film the movie, something that she managed to achieve by restricting her calories.
“I’ve never watched what I ate. It was one of those things where for the first time in my life, I got a food delivery service. I’ll tell you, I’m not promoting this at all. I used to be a smoker, so I smoked a lot of cigarettes and I ate like a limited amount of calories,” the actor said.
“It was a 1200 calories or less calorie diet a day. I would say an average of 1200 calories a day. It’s awful. Then, I smoked. I don’t advocate this at all. By the way, I’m not a smoker, smoking is gross,” the actor revealed. In the end, her dedication paid off — with the role of Lily being one of Kunis’ strongest dramatic efforts.
