LOL: Todd Barry And Darren Aronofsky Discuss The Original 'Black Swan'

By now, we all know the story behind Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan — it and 2008's The Wrestler were initially conceived of as a single love story, before Aronofsky realized there was too much material for one project and split it into two movies. Or maybe not. A new video reveals that Black Swan actually began life as a spin-off of The Wrestler titled The Deli Manager, with Todd Barry reprising his role from The Wrestler. And Aronofsky himself appears to confirm the tale, so it has to be true. (Funny or Die is reliable news source, right?) See for yourself after the jump.

Is it just me, or does the Deli Manager poster look like it's for a straight-up horror film? I get that the font and format is aping the real Black Swan poster, but I'm finding that overall the look is more reminiscent of the character sheets for Kevin Smith's Red State. Who knew Todd Barry could look so terrifying?

The Deli Manager, of course, is just one of many, many Black Swan parodies that have hit the Internet since the film's release late last year. In this space alone, we've featured the Black Swan-Showgirls trailer mashup, the SNL skit starring Jim Carrey as Nina, and the Jackass spoof. The clips from The Deli Manager don't strike me as particularly clever (though the "He's brilliant" scene made me laugh) but I definitely got a kick out of watching Aronofsky explain with a straight face that Black Swan started as a movie about a deli manager. And Barry is funny as usual. No matter how big his deli manager character gets, he'll always be Todd of the Crazy Dogggz to me.Discuss: But seriously, folks, Aronofsky's moustache: yea or nay? I say NAY, unless he also brings back the beard.