10 Brilliantly Crazy Movie Fan Theories

9. Black Swan Was Based On Showgirls

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Fox Searchlight Pictures

Black Swan was marketed as a “prestigious” psychological thriller, but let’s be honest: this movie is about as upmarket as Showgirls, which it very closely resembles.

The world of ballet is no different from lap dancing – they’re both about sex, are viciously competitive and you have to sleep with your boss to get ahead. The movie’s really a Joe Eszterhas flick with pretensions, the kind of film where every character has a way with sexual innuendo and even the fast food waiter delivers lines like “Let me know if it’s juicy enough for you.” Then there’s the girl on girl stuff, which is purely artistic, advances the story etc etc.

Eszterhas specializes in cod psychology, but even he’d draw the line at delineating characters by dressing one in black, one in white, and suggesting our heroine might’ve gone off the deep end by having the eyes of her paintings literally follow her around the room. Chalk such moments down to director Darren Aronofsky, who also gave us The Fountain, a picture so head-scratchingly bizarre that even star Hugh Jackman didn’t know what it was about.

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Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'