Natalie Portman has revealed that she underwent gruelling preparation for her new movie Black Swan.
The actress was on the red carpet last night as the film, which is directed by The Wrestler filmmaker Darren Aronofsky, opened the Venice Film Festival.
Portman takes on the role of ballet dancer Nina in the movie, alongside Vincent Cassel and Mila Kunis, and she revealed that she worked on her fitness as well as dance training before shooting began.
Speaking to The Press Association the actress said: Six months ahead of the film, I went into sort of hyper-training, where five hours a day I was doing both ballet and cross-training, with swimming.
"A few months before was when we started getting into the choreography. It was very extreme."
The movie, which is the first for Aronofsky since the critical success of The Wrestler in 2009, is already surrounded in Oscar whispers and is already winning over the critics.
2010 has been a busy year for the actress as she has just completed work on big budget blockbuster Thor and Your Highness, which also stars Danny McBride and James Franco, is awaiting release.
No Strings is currently in pre-production and she is set to shoot Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is on the horizon.
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