There may have never been a time when French-born Benjamin Millepied was uncomfortable wearing tights. With a modern dancer for a mother, he began training in ballet at age 8 and the current New York City Ballet dancer entered the prestigious Conservatoire de Lyon at 13—two years below the school's age minimum. "In France, ballet is on TV," he told Details about his sport. "It's on the eight-o'clock news. It's a cool thing to be a dancer." In addition to being a world-renowned principal dancer, Millepied recently finished working as a choreographer and actor on Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, where he met his girlfriend, Natalie Portman.
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Up there on the list of legendary facts about Obama's former chief of staff, along with his affinity for profanity and his mailing a dead fish to a pollster, is his background in ballet. Emanuel was apparently quite the dancer—he turned down a scholarship to the prestigious Joffrey Ballet in order to get his bachelor's degree at Sarah Lawrence instead. In 1998, years after Emanuel's life-changing decision, The Washington Post reported that "the tough-talking aide also takes time out each Saturday to don tights and practice ballet."
Generally, men dress in tights in lighthearted films; but Mickey Rourke's Oscar-nominated turn in The Wrestler was an exception. Another spandex-featuring film from Darren Aronofsky, The Wrestler, follows the downward spiral of an already browbeaten professional wrestler, Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Rourke). Robinson's tights are straight out of the 1980s: lime-green spandex adorned with skulls. The part undoubtedly gave Rourke a career comeback, garnering widespread critical acclaim while proving that tights do carry a certain amount of credibility.
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Ballet tights weren't a huge departure from Hulk Hogan's red and yellow wrestling costumes, but he still seemed uncomfortable donning them in Mr. Nanny. For the 1993 comedy, Hogan played Sean Armstrong, a former wrestler who becomes the bodyguard and babysitter for two spoiled children of a defense contractor. Apparently, part of his job description includes wearing a pink tutu.
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Chris Evans stepped into a spandex sapphire suit for his 2005 film, Fantastic Four, and again for its 2007 sequel, Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer. When asked whether he'd reprise his role as the Human Torch, Johnny Storm, Evans said that if Christopher Nolan rebooted the comic book-inspired franchise, he'd absolutely "be in those blue fucking tights." Though the Fantastic Four's future remains to be seen, it looks like Evans will be in blue, albeit star-spangled, fitted attire again soon—the actor is slated to play Captain America in at least three upcoming films.
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Like their benevolent counterparts, supervillains have been known to dress in spandex, a la Jim Carrey's role as the Riddler in Tim Burton's 1995 film Batman Forever. Rumor has it that the Riddler will reappear in Christopher Nolan's sequel to Dark Knight, and fellow funnyman Robin Williams went on the record saying he'd like the part. He did admit, however, that he's "a little hairy for tights."
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