Darren Aronofsky has admitted that his slow pace on Black Swan was a concern for leading actress Natalie Portman.
Aronofsky is back in the new year with his first movie since The Wrestler as Natalie Portman stars n ballet drama Black Swan.
But the director struggled making in-roads into the ballet world that it took him some time to be able to put a final screenplay together.
Speaking to Movie Hole the filmmaker said: "We talked a bit about it and I started to develop it but it was a really tough film because getting into the ballet world proved to be a bit challenging.
"Most of the time you say, 'Hey, I wanna make a movie about your world', and the doors open up and you can do anything you want.
“The ballet world really wasn't at all interested in us hanging out. So it took a long time to sort of get the information to put it together."
"Over the years Natalie would say, 'I'm getting too old to play a dancer, you better hurry up'.
"And I would just say, 'Natalie you look great, you'll do fine'," he explained.
"And then about a year out before the film I finally got a screenplay together."
The movie has already been tipped for awards success and is an early Oscar contender.
Black Swan is released 21st January.
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