Searchlight Sets Dates for '127 Hours' and 'Black Swan'

Fox Searchlight has become an awards season leader over the past few years and while I don't expect this is the last we've heard from the boutique studio between now and then - there are still the films at the Toronto Film Fest to weed through - Searchlight has locked in two of its big candidates. Chronologically, the first is 127 Hours, the bio-pic of mountaineer Aron Ralston, who severed his own arm to free himself from between two rocks. James Franco plays Ralston and the film is directed by Danny Boyle. Two years ago, Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire was a grand slam for Searchlight, and that combination is back on November 5th. The next film on the docket is Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis. Swan will debut at the Venice Film Festival and the high-minded, artistic branch of of Fox will open the film on December 1st. From the studio, here's the official synopsis. We'd seen most of these specifics before, but it's good to have the company line:

"A psychological thriller set in the world of New York City ballet, Black Swan stars Natalie Portman as Nina, a featured dancer who finds herself locked in a web of competitive intrigue with a new rival at the company (Mila Kunis). Black Swan takes a thrilling and at times terrifying journey through the psyche of a young ballerina whose starring role as the duplicitous swan queen turns out to be a part for which she becomes frighteningly perfect."