'Black Swan' sued for violating labour laws

Two interns have sued the film Black Swan for violating labour laws.

The two men claim that the production company behind the Oscar-winning film hired dozens of individuals for unpaid internships, disregarding minimum wage and overtime laws, the New York Times reports.

The interns alleged that the production company had them perform tasks that would normally be carried out by paid employees and did not give them the required educational experience that an unpaid internship is supposed to provide.

"Fox Searchlight's unpaid interns are a crucial labour force on its productions, functioning as production assistants and bookkeepers and performing secretarial and janitorial work," the lawsuit reads. "In misclassifying many of its workers as unpaid interns, Fox Searchlight has denied them the benefits that the law affords to employees."

One of the plaintiffs, Alex Footman insisted that he learned very little from his experience as a production intern on the film, noting that his responsibilities only included taking out trash and taking coffee orders.

"The only thing I learned on this internship was to be more picky in choosing employment opportunities," Footman said. "Black Swan had more than $300 million in revenues. If they paid us, it wouldn't make a big difference to them, but it would make a huge difference to us."

In December, Black Swan became involved in a lawsuit filed by a New York film production company.

Natalie Portman, who won an Oscar for her role in Black Swan, confessed in April that she nearly suffered a "total breakdown" after finishing production on the film.

Watch the trailer for Black Swan below: