LIFE: Q+A with Hilary Swank

By Alex Chrisope
Source: Inside Vandy

Last week, resident movie aficionado Alex Chrisope participated in a conference call with Academy Award-winner Hilary Swank, who was promoting her latest film “The Reaping.” In the film, Swank plays a former Christian missionary investigating a small Louisiana town that suffers from what appears to be Biblical plagues. In the interview, Swank answers questions about her decision to do this project, her take on the film, and how it was to shoot in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina.

Vanderbilt Hustler: As a two-time Oscar winner, I’m guessing that you’re now afforded a greater opportunity to choose your own roles. I was wondering how your decision-making process works.
Hillary Swank: I simply go by the script. If I loved the script – just my reaction to the script. It doesn’t matter what genre it is, it’s just what’s on the page. I just try and find something when I’m reading it that moves me or scares me some way but ultimately challenges me.

VH: When you were filming did you know which parts would be scary or were you surprised when you saw the final product?
HS: Even though I read the script and obviously acted in the movie, when I watched the movie I got scared at certain points and all my friends looked at me like, “You know what happens,” and yet I forgot that some of those things happened.

VH: What did you do to prepare for your role: Did you have to go back and read parts of the Bible or anything along those lines?
HS: Because I played a person who was a missionary and had faith in the beginning and then loses her faith and becomes a professor of debunking miracles and myths, there’s a lot of books out there; there’s this thing called the Skeptic (sic) Enquirer, which is this magazine our director Stephen Hopkins had me read, and the parts of the Bible I read were just about the plagues. But I actually did a lot of reading just because I had never really heard of anything like these skeptic enquirers, and it was really interesting that these people believe that there’s a scientific answer for everything, so it’s great to see all your different outlooks.

VH: The shooting around Baton Rouge got delayed because of Katrina, and I was wondering what that experience was like, if you saw any of the aftermath firsthand.
HS: Yeah, being down there we did. I was really grateful to Joel Silver and the studio because we easily could have finished shooting somewhere else. But they really wanted to stay there and make sure the people who lost their homes didn’t also lose their jobs, and it’s a big-budget movie, so hopefully a lot of the money went into rebuilding their state. We were just glad to be able to go back down; it’s a wonderful state, and I met a lot of great people down there.

VH: Where do faith and science fit in your life?
HS: Well, I’m definitely more faith-driven than skeptic-driven, but it was definitely interesting to read about these people who are skeptics and how they feel there is a scientific answer for everything, but I’m definitely more on the faith side.

VH: The press release sort of talks about faith and science wholly in opposition. Does the movie present them in the same way, or does it suggest that there can be reconciliation of the two ideas?
HS: It’s a place for both to be seen: there’s room for both of them, and one person isn’t going to think, “It’s more one way than the other.” It definitely makes you think about it, but I think more than anything it’s an entertaining movie.

VH: Of all the plagues you saw come to life in the film, which was your favorite?
HS: I think the locusts, just because it was fun to film. When you see the movie the locust scene is really – it’s just interesting.

VH: Stephen Hopkins has recently done a lot of television work; was the way he worked any different than some of the other directors you’ve worked with?
HS: No. You know, I’ve been a fan of Stephen’s for a long time, and I became a fan of his after seeing his work on “24,” (the pilot and the first few episodes). I just thought he’s visually strong, and I felt that this movie really needed that. I really went out and (sought) Stephen out; I think he has a lot of talent, and he did a really good job bringing this movie to life.

Mixing Silver with Gold

By Daniel Robert Epstein
Source: Film Stew

She’s won two more Oscars than he has, but he’s made hundreds of millions of dollars more than she. In other words, Hilary Swank and Joel Silver is a match made in Hollywood heaven.

It’s not exactly the kind of heat you expect a Best Actress Oscar nominee to garner the week of the Academy Award festivities. But there was Hilary Swank, in the middle of her second successful run-up for Million Dollar Baby, taking a call from Hollywood producer Joel Silver (House of Wax, The Matrix). “He said, ‘I have a script I want you to read,’ and I said, ‘Can I read it next week?‘” recalls Swank during a recent interview with FilmStew on the Baton Rouge, LA set of The Reaping.

“And he said, ‘No, I need you to read it now.’” “The great thing about Joel is his enthusiasm is infectious,” she continues. “It’s one of his strong suits. So I said, ‘Ok, ok, I’ll read it!’ It was a real page turner- I actually read it on one of my flights, I didn’t put it down. So I called him and said, ‘I really like the concept a lot,’ and he goes, ‘I really want you to come and sit with me right now.’” “This is the Friday before the Academy Awards. I’m like, ‘Joel, it’s Friday and I have a really big weekend and it’s 2 in the afternoon already,’ and he goes, ‘Ok, come in at 4.’ I was like ‘Ok, ok, OK!’ He told me what the ideas were for it and they were right in tune with what I felt that I wanted and I said, ‘You know what? I really like this movie, I’d be happy to do this movie.’”

Like Swank’s last horror flick The Gift, The Reaping is set in the U.S. south and tries to interweave dramatic and scary strands. Interestingly enough, director Stephen Hopkins had been previously attached to The Reaping before dropping out. He was happy to come back when Swank personally called him and told him that she wanted to do the movie with him. “

I think it’s interesting what’s going on in our world with religion, and I think that’s really the basis of a lot of problems that are happening,” Swank observes. “I think that this film deals with a lot of that. A woman loses her faith because of circumstances that happen in her life and then, as the movie goes on, she’s kind of coming alive again. She regains her faith through those circumstances.”

Given what has transpired for the actress at the Kodak Theater in between her two fright fests, one has to ask. Is she going to bring the Oscar back to the horror genre? “I don’t know about that!” she exclaims with a laugh. “But what’s fun about it is reacting to something that’s not there, because acting is reacting and obviously there are a lot [of special effects] in the film that we don’t see. It gives you a complete appreciation for these movies.”

And though Swank’s marriage to fellow actor Chad Lowe may be coming to an end, their artistic partnership is not. They are co-producers of Beautiful, Ohio, a Lowe-directed comedy-drama starring Rita Wilson and William Hurt that mines the same general family territory as the recent Running with Scissors.

“Our producer partner Mark Burton brought us this short story called “Batorsag & Szerelem,” Swank remembers. “It’s a beautiful story, one that just touches your heart. It’s a coming of age story, it’s a family drama, and it’s our first movie that we are producing under [our banner] Accomplice Films.” Beautiful, Ohio has screened at film festivals in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Cleveland. But at press time, there was still no theatrical distributor in place.

Hilary Swank: I Believe In “Miracles”

By CBS/The Early Show
Source: CBS News

Says Her Success Surely Is One; Discusses Latest Film, Thriller “The Reaping“

After two Oscars in six years and a rise into Hollywood’s elite, Hilary Swank says she has every reason to believe in miracles.

But in her latest movie, the supernatural thriller “The Reaping,” she plays a scientist and former minister who believes there’s no such thing as a miracle — until she finds some she just can’t explain.

Fresh off the success of her inspirational drama “Freedom Writers,” the two-time Oscar-winner returns to theaters in something completely different, portraying someone who has a new life disproving religious phenomena.

Swank concurred with co-anchor Hannah Storm’s assessment on The Early Show Friday that “The Reaping” is really scary.

“In every way,” Storm says, “intellectually scary, and physically scary. And the reason it’s so scary is because (your character goes) into these situations — something crazy is happening in this town. And you’re going to prove there’s nothing biblical about it. There’s a scientific explanation.”

“Something horrific happens to my family that makes me lose my faith,” Swank says of her character. “I go the complete opposite direction and become a debunker, debunking myths and miracles.

“There’s people who actually do that. They go around the world and find a scientific answer for every single miraculous occurrence.

“My character goes to a small town in Louisiana and she says, ‘I’ll find a scientific answer for this thing that’s happening in your town.’ And while she’s there, things start happening that she can’t quite explain.”

A river turns to blood, and the 10 plagues from the Book of Exodus start happening.

Still, says Swank, “This movie was so fun to do. It was fun to film; it’s scary, but it’s smart. It has twists that you don’t see coming. I really enjoyed it. It was a lot different than anything I’d done before.”

There was lots of joking around on the set, despite or perhaps because of the tense subject matter of the movie, she added.

Asked by Storm if she believes in miracles, Swank responds with a chuckle, “Well, when I see where I’ve come from and where I am today, I would say that’s pretty miraculous!”

Why?

“Just because, you know, humble beginnings, and now I’m here talking about a movie, which means, you know, I’m doing what I wanted to do when I was 9 years old. I got out of where I was. And, yeah, if that’s what you consider a miracle, I do. I think it’s amazing. I think I’ve been really blessed.”

Swank filmed four movies in rapid succession, each different from the others, and says it’s time for a break, but not for long because, “I love my job. I love it.”

Hilary Swank Interviewed – The Reaping

By Frosty
Source: Collider

Opening Thursday is The Reaping and it stars two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank.

In “The Reaping,” Hilary Swank plays a former Christian missionary who lost her faith after her family was tragically killed, and has since become a world-renowned expert in disproving religious phenomena. But when she investigates a small Louisiana town that is suffering from what appear to be the Biblical plagues, she realizes that science cannot explain what is happening and she must regain her faith to combat the dark forces threatening the community.

Q: So, do you love sci-fi, thriller movies like this?
I do. I do. I like smart ones and I feel like this is a really smart one. It really makes you think. The twists and turns in it and I was surprised and I read a lot of scripts and I see a lot of movies and I couldn’t believe it got me.

Q: How much of the stuff do you actually believe in?
In what?

Q: Apocalypse and plagues and all that stuff…
Well, I don’t know if I would believe that all of a sudden that a bunch of locusts are going to land on us and it’s not really anything I thought about, but I am from Nebraska and there are a lot of locusts there. Um, I think it’s interesting to think about. Do I think it’s going to happen? No, but I think it’s a really interesting thing to think about.

Q: Do you believe in God?
I do. I believe in a higher power. I’m not, I wasn’t baptized or anything.

Q: Your co-stars talked about the situation with hurricane Katrina while you were shooting. How did you feel when you came back?
Yeah, well, I think that obviously it was a horrible devastation that happened, but when we were evacuated, the great thing was that the studio actually said, ‘We’re going to go back.’ A movie is a movie and it’s a business and it took us way off schedule, but instead they just waited. And instead of pulling out and filming somewhere else, which would have left these people homeless and jobless, they kept the movie there, which I appreciated. Warner Bros. and Joel and they all made that real effort to do that. We all did. I was like, ‘Please make sure we go back.’ And I just thought that was really, really great we could give these people a place to go and something else to think about. And try and help rebuild.

Q: What did you get to enjoy in the south?
Pecan pies. Gumbo. Oh, there are so many amazing – there is so much great food down there. I’m a big food connoisseur. I love different types of food and trying different types of food and one of the first things I got when I got down there, my neighbor brought over a pecan pie and welcomed me to the neighborhood. Um, so, y’know it was really great food experience and hospitality. There is a reason why they say southern hospitality, because it is true and it is really alive down there. It’s great. I loved it. I had a little farmhouse while I was down there and my dogs ran free. They loved it. I loved it. It was great. I was down there a long time.

Q: How long had you been shooting before the hurricane occurred?
Almost 3/4th’s of the way through. Somewhere between a half and 3/4th’s. I don’t remember, but it was longer. On the long side. I know we went down on my birthday, which is July 30th, and we left November 2nd.

Q: Did you have to do anything special to train for this part?
I boxed, oh, no that was a different movie. (Laughs.) I acted like a boy. No, wait. Sorry. (Laughs.) No, there was nothing physical that I had to do for this movie. I just – what I actually did, there is this skeptic – I had to read these magazines. There is something called like The Skeptic Mind and all these books on people who debunk miracles and myths and stuff just like my character did and it was really fascinating. Y’know one of the things I talk about, one of the greatest things about being an actor is that I get to look at life at so many different ways and experience it. These people who write this Skeptic Minds and these books, I mean that’s their life. And to really get into it deep like that it’s just an interesting thing. You get to see so many different walks of life and on such deep levels. I did read a lot of those books. I read parts of the bible. I looked at everything.

Q: Were there any bizarre occurrences on the set? Like a bunch of flies in your room or something?
Oh, can you imagine I walk in after doing that scene? I would have thought it was a really bad ‘Punk’d.’ I was getting ‘Punk’d’ or something. ‘What’s going on?’ No, but there was one thing that happened. You know the scene where they keep Brody McConnell’s body on the gurney and they pan down to the symbol on his back? Every time it would pan down, the sound would go out. Not just out it was like warped. Like, ‘[she makes warped sound].’ And you were like, ‘What’s going on?’ The first time you don’t think anything. They just say ‘cut’ and you just talk and blah, blah, blah. And then they say, ‘Action,’ and we get back to it and then it would go out right when it got there again. Five takes later it’s still going out. And then we were like, ‘What is going on?’ Right when it gets to that point. Isn’t that interesting? Right?

Q: How do you keep yourself in shape now?
Well, with crazy schedules it’s a little bit more difficult then, y’know, but not. But, I like to run and you can kind of run anywhere. I like to swim and you can hopefully, y’know in all of my traveling there is a pool in my hotel. But running is a really easy thing to do and I love to travel, so when I run in different cities I get to really see the city. If I am running around and checking out and you’re not thinking about your workout when you are doing it that way. But, I do like to exercise. It’s something I like and when I don’t get to do it because of my schedule, because my schedule is too heavy, y’know I can feel a difference in my energy and my stress.

Q: You look terrific in the film.
Thanks. Thanks a lot. (Laughs.)

Q: You play a lot of character like this where you get down and dirty and you really get in the muck. Do you prefer that or dressing up?
Oh, it’s all fun. The great thing, again, as I said, one of the great things about being an actor, I mean as a girl I love my high heels and I love my dresses and I like to dress up, but I love that I get to play these characters that are really different than that. I get the best of both worlds.

Q: We heard you don’t like to do a lot of rehearsing. You just like to get in there and do that. Can you talk about that?
Yeah, it’s funny because you hear – there are a lot of people who I respect who love to rehearse. I’ve worked with Al Pacino and he wants to rehearse for hours and hours and he comes from the theater. So, it’s just how everyone’s background is just so different and how when you are working with different people you have to be respectful of that, because even though I don’t like to rehearse other people might. So, keeping that happy balance to keep everyone and able to do their jobs so everyone can is important. But yeah, I think there is something that happens, like with Clint, he believes the first take is the best. He thinks that there is something that happens naturally and instinctively the first time and I think that if you do that in a rehearsal than you’ve lost it. And that first time isn’t on camera. Sometimes when you are working with actors who like to rehearse, the director’s and producer’s can see it as wasting film, because if it doesn’t work then you’re actually rehearsing on film if they see it. I just think a lot of interesting things come from that and you can use and the editor can use. I just think it’s fun. It’s just something that happens that you don’t expect and as you do more and more takes you kind of are understanding what the other person is doing so it’s also fun when the director – and Stephen did this a lot – would whisper and say secrets to the other actors. He would tell you guys. He come up to us all and say, ‘OK, in this take let’s do it this way.’ He’d say, ‘You do this and you do this.’ We didn’t really know what was going to happen which really keeps you on your toes.

Q: Can you talk about working with Idris? Were you familiar with his work and?
I actually didn’t know a lot of his work and was not really familiar with him. But, I just, I think Idris definitely is the real deal. He’s just got so much talent. And we had so much fun together. Y’know it’s great, I think our chemistry onscreen is really great. It seems like we’ve been great friends forever and I just think he –

Q: Is he a prankster?
Did he tell you he was? Because I’m the prankster! (Laughs.) The funny thing is and he may not have told you this, he doesn’t like spiders. And I was like holding a big toad and ‘Oh, I wanna take it home, don’t you?’ And he was ‘Aaaahhh!’ I mean, what a movie to be scared of spiders to be doing right? I mean they were all over, all the time. And I don’t have a problem with it, but it was really funny for me and Anna Sophia to be like, ‘Oh, can we do the locusts? Can they sit on us?’ And he’s like, ‘Aaaaaah.’ It was the complete opposite of the stereotypical guy/girl thing, y’know? One thing too. There were other things that happened, but Idris, oh, loved him. Love him and his accent was brilliant. When he comes now and he uses this English accent I kind of laugh like, ‘You’re putting it on right? You just want to act like you’re real smart or somethin’.’ But, yeah, great, great guy.

Q: Next movie is ‘P.S.’ I Love You’ with Gerard Butler who is now exploded on the scene because of ‘300’ and you shot it after ‘300’ right?
Yes, a few months later.

Q: Did he still have the abs? (Laughs.)
No. He even said, ‘I was in really good shape y’know. I looked really in this movie I just did. It was just so hard I had to let go.’ And I was like, ‘OK. You still look great, what are you talking about?’ And then you see that movie and you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s what you meant.’

Q: Can you tell us about that movie and who you play in it?
Hmm hmm. It’s a romantic comedy and working with Gerry was great. We’re actually looking for something else to do together with Richard LaGravenese because we all had such a great time together. It doesn’t sound funny when you kind of pitch it, but it’s about this man, Gerry, this couple that are married, me and Gerry, and he gets a brain tumor. And while he’s dying he writes these letters to me. So, once he’s died I’m getting these letters every month on how to just find myself again and move on. And he has me doing all these funny, silly things along the way. It’s really, really, I mean you laugh and you cry and it’s a reminder of what is important in life. To hold the people you love dear and not take them for granted. It’s really, really touching.

Q: Are you still learning a lot? Are you watching and observing?
Yeah and I love that you asked that. That’s something that’s so important to me. I feel like, people say, ‘Geez. Well, with two Academy Awards, where do you go?’ Well, I look at those movies and see mistakes all over the place and things that I would have done differently and better. And I think anytime you look at your life and think, ‘Oh, yeah I got that. I understand it. I got that down. It’s a breeze,’ you can just quit. Because that’s not – I want to constantly grow and learn and challenge myself. That’s ultimately what I look for in a script is to be challenged in some way. And y’know lots of different ways. And yes, I’m a big observer. I would say, one of the things, a funny story – as a kid, I would observe so much and one of the things my Mom saying ad nauseum was, ‘Stop starring Hilary!’ I would just stare and watch people. I remember as a kid watching how many times people would chew before they swallow. I remember watching people walk and watching how people write. Do they put their pen up here or do they put their pen here or do they put their pen here. Do they touch their hair when they talk. I’m just fascinated by people. Fascinated. And I’m fascinated by how different people work. Like, when we talk about the different directors I’ve worked with. Seeing how they all work differently, but they all make these great movies. How you can get to a point by doing it so many different ways. I just love that.

Q: Do you keep your options open every time you go into a film?
I definitely try to and it’s one of the things, y’know that is probably the most difficult, because I’ve been doing this half my life now. And so, I have an expectation of what it should be like on the set or I have an expectation of what a scene should come out, but the real challenge for me is to stay open minded and not to have an idea of how it’s going to turn out. To get up and go to my job everyday and be open minded to how the scenes are going to turn out, to how other people work, to being open to how they are working and I think that’s really important, especially in a creative job.

Q: Are you able to observe anymore?
Oh, yeah because I’m out and people will see me starring at them? It’s definitely different, but when I was living in New York, it was great, because I was taking the subway still and it was really important…I think what happens to actors when they become famous is they become more solitary, because it’s harder to go out just the nature of – of course it is. But, I think that’s one of the biggest detriments, because when you start loosing touch with people and absorbing you loose touch with life and what you’re trying to create. So, I love traveling and I love taking public transportation when I can and being with people, because that’s what I do. That’s my job. Here you’re in your car, but in New York, people are in such a hurry, so you’ll be on the subway and someone will be reading and they’ll be like, ‘I love your work! I love it.’ And then they’ll go back to reading their book. Y’know? Or they’ll be walking down the street and they’ll be going, ‘Oh, that was great!’ But they keep going because they have places to go. So, it’s, y’know, that’s the difference.

Q: What are you working on next?
I’m working on doing press for ‘The Reaping’ and then ‘P.S. I Love You.’

Hilary Swank, The Reaping Interview

By John Hutchins
Source: UGO

Since making her mainstream debut in 1994 as ringer for Ralph Macchio in The Next Karate Kid, Hilary Swank has definitely come a long way. In the time since, having nabbed two Best Actress Academy Awards for intense lead performances in Boys Don’t Cry and Million Dollar Baby, one might assume a role involving locust attacks, swimming in rivers of blood and battles with Lucifer might be asking too much. Not so, evidently. We sat down with her recently in Los Angeles to talk about her new movie, her Oscar trophies and what sounded like the film shoot from hell.

UGO: The film deals with some pretty intense religious issues. Where do you fall on the spectrum of religious faith/spirituality?

HILARY: I believe in a higher power. I wasn’t baptized or [have] organized religion, but it’s definitely interesting. Part of my job as an actor is reading and learning about all different types and walks of life, different thinking, and it certainly makes you more open minded. And I love that. I love getting that opportunity to hear these people who write for, you know, Skeptic Mind Magazine. They feel there’s a scientific reason for everything, and they will sit there and you can ask them anything. “Well, why does this happen?” And they have an answer for it, whereas the other people will come in and say “there is no way that this can scientifically be proven, and it’s nothing short of a miracle.” And I love that, that you can represent both sides of that in a movie.

UGO: So which side do you find yourself agreeing with more? Do you believe in miracles?

HILARY: I’ve seen in my own life a lot of things that have been – I wouldn’t say miraculous, but I would say a blessing. I think I work really hard but there’s a lot of luck. But I haven’t, myself, witnessed a miracle.

UGO: Speaking of which, there’s a scene in the film where you rattle off a long, complicated scientific explanation… how hard was that?

HILARY: Great writing, huh? It took me a long time to learn that. It was two weeks of learning it while I was off set. I would be going over and over and over it, because she says it really fast and passionately. So, it was definitely different to learn that.

UGO: How did you first become attached to the film?

HILARY: Joel [Silver] sent it to me – it was a week before the Academy Awards for Million Dollar Baby – and he said “I want you to read this right now.” I said “right now? Can it wait?” and he said “No… right now!” I read it, and I just remember it being a real page-turner and really enjoying it and not seeing the twists and turns that came. And it’s hard to fool me, because I’ve read a lot of scripts. And I really loved that I didn’t see stuff coming.

UGO: What was it like working with [director] Stephen Hopkins?

HILARY: So great. There wasn’t a director on this when I came aboard, and when Joel and I were batting out names – I was a real big fan of those first episodes of 24, and The Life and Death of Peter Sellers had just come out. I really pushed for him and fought for him. I really wanted him to be a part of it.

UGO: Do you ever notice people on set being intimidated by you, especially now since you have two Academy Awards?

HILARY: Yeah, I put it down and say, “can you polish this for me?” No, I’m kidding (laughs). I’m just another person, another actor sitting down and doing the same thing, starting from scratch. I think the second they see me mess up in a scene they go “Oh, OK… just like me.”

UGO: And they’ll always remember you for being the new Karate Kid.

HILARY: Exactly. I just signed an autograph for someone who brought their DVD. So, you know… I was fortunate enough to be blessed to do movies that people recognize somehow in that light. I wake up every day and I do these quadruple takes at [the Oscars] thinking, “What is that sitting in my house?” I don’t think it’s even sunk in with me. I’m the same. I make the same mistakes on a set, you know, I don’t remember my lines and I go “what am I saying, what am I doing!? Please help me!”

UGO: Do you feel pressure now to take roles more likely to get Oscar attention?

HILARY: I think after Boys Don’t Cry I did, because it so came out of nowhere and I just thought, “Wow!” All of a sudden I’m here and last year I was doing 90210 and like… “Wow, where do you go from here?” But I think you can’t be in that mindset because nothing’s perfect. Those performances weren’t perfect, they were flawed, and my goal is to continue challenging myself, to try to learn and grow.

UGO: How were you with shooting those scenes in the swamps, with the bugs and what not?

HILARY: I’m a lot better than Idris Elba is [laughs]. I grew up out in the country and I was a tomboy. I loved climbing trees and tree forts and frogs and all that stuff, and I grew up by a lake. Idris, he hates all that. Spiders and stuff, really, he doesn’t like. So we’d get a good laugh. When they brought the locusts out we’d be having them crawl all over us, and he’d just be like, “Uh-uh.” It was funny: the scene where he falls in the swamp, he fell. He sank into the swamp and we had those big things on and [they] filled with water so he couldn’t get back up. He was just like, “OOOOHHH!”

UGO: What was it like filming in Louisiana during Katrina?

HILARY: A lot of our crew was from New Orleans, so a lot of them had lost their homes and everything. We all got evacuated and instead of, you know, being a business – it would have been really easy for the studio and Joel to say “Okay, we’re going to take this movie somewhere else. We’ve got to finish this movie, we can’t wait.” Instead they said “Okay, let’s wait and let’s just hold out and go back.” And I think it was really smart because all those people who had lost their homes didn’t lose their job, and we helped the city rebuild [with] all the money we were bringing there. So, it was a long shoot because of that, but it was a no-brainer. It was the obvious and right thing to do.

UGO: Did you feel a responsibility to keep the crew’s spirits up?

HILARY: Absolutely. You don’t want to deny them having their emotions and feelings and everything. Obviously, it was a horrible devastation that happened, but it was part of their healing and rebuilding and I think our country had to heal and rebuild from that. So, it’s great to have a movie that represents that area – a [place] that’s so much fun – and a reminder for people to go to that area.

UGO: How would you describe your life now? What zone are you in?

HILARY: I would say I’m just really happy that I get to do what I love. I’ve wanted to be an actor since I was eight years old, and now I’m here in this place where I’m talking about a movie and I get to talk about my future movies, my old jobs… I love it. I actually don’t have any problems talking about any of my jobs, because all of it – I was just always happy to be a working actor. I love what I do, and I feel like I’m in a place where I get to wake up and say “Hey, I get to go do what I love today.”

Success split us up

By John Dingwall
Source: The Daily Record

Exclusive Hilary Swank says fame ruined her marriage… but now she’s loving life again the BIG razz interview.

Double Oscar winner Hilary Swank has revealed how her fabulous film career killed off her chances of a successful marriage.

She divorced Chad Lowe, who stars as creepy Reed Pollock in the latest series of 24, blaming his jealousy of her success for the split.

The actress, who picked up the coveted Academy awards for Boys Don’t Cry and Million Dollar Baby, says she threw herself into her work to get over the break-up and the heartache it brought.

“I really feel like I am in a good place now. Luckily, I have a great support system around me for the tough times, but I also love my job and have been working non-stop,” she admitted.

Her latest film role is a Christian missionary who has lost her faith in the supernatural thriller The Reaping, which she accepted just hours before collecting her second Oscar.

Her character specialises in debunking religious phenomena and goes to investigate a small town which seems to be suffering from the 10 Biblical plagues.

In fact, Hilary has just made four films back to back – The Reaping, The Black Dahlia, Freedom Writers and PS, I Love You.

It’s a gruelling schedule but she feels all this hard work keeps her focused and grounded.

“I feel like I am in a place where I get to wake up and say: ‘Hey, I get to go do what I love today and everything else is great’,” she said.

“I was single for a while, but I’m in a relationship now.

“Actually, it’s been all good and I’m doing great.”

Blaming her life in Hollywood for the break-up, she added: “I think it takes a really, really secure and grounded man or woman to allow your partner to achieve success and be empowered.

“I just think it’s rare to find that person who isn’t threatened by it or doesn’t feel less because of it.

“When they are threatened by it, that just kills a part of you.

“It kills you because this person, who is supposed to be in your life, sharing your life, who supposedly loves you more than anyone and is supposed to understand you more than anyone, is trying to hold you down when you already have enough of that in the world.

“You already have people saying: ‘You can’t do that. You’re not going to be able to do that.’

“That just kills you. It kills a little piece of you, and that’s a real and really sad thing.

“I think it’s unfortunate when people who are scared don’t allow someone else to be fully realised. It’s tough. I think that a real challenge in life is finding the balance of living for yourself, but also making time for relationships, whatever they may be.

“I speak to my mom a few times a month and she understands, but that’s sad.

“Someday, I don’t want my mom to pass away or for me to pass away and for me to say: ‘I didn’t spend as much time with my mom as I wanted, my best friend or whoever in my life that’s important to me.’

“It’s really hard to find that balance, but it’s also really hard not to give up your whole self to make someone else’s life complete.”

Hilary revealed many of her friends had stopped seeing her because they felt inadequate.

“I’ve had friends in my life who, as I get more successful, weren’t a part of my life anymore because it made them feel inadequate,” she said.

“It’s hard to find those people who really say: ‘I’m so proud of you. I want you to have all the success that happens in your life, and it doesn’t make me feel like a lesser person because of it.’

“It’s something that I don’t understand. I feel like everyone has their calling in life, and I think that everyone should try and follow it and be as great as they can be and support one another.

“Not everyone can be that way. So, friendships fall apart. Siblings have rivalries. We have wars. I mean, it’s just the human condition. I’m just really lucky that I have dear friends in my life who say: ‘I hope that you get everything that you want. I’m really happy when you get success.’ And, they really mean it. But, sadly, they are few and far between.”

Filming on The Reaping was delayed when Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast, wreaking havoc on Louisiana and leaving many of the film crew without homes.

“It was a horrible event,” Hilary recalled. “The great thing about the way the studio handled it was that instead of closing down, moving and filming somewhere else, they said: ‘Let’s just let some time go by, go back and make sure that we keep people employed.’

“A lot of people in the cast and crew were from New Orleans. So, about 10 days later, we were back filming in the swamps.”

She agreed to the part on the same weekend she collected her second Oscar, for her role as a female boxer Maggie Fitzgerald in Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby, based on the short stories of F.X. O’Toole and scripted by Crash screenwriter Paul Haggis.

Hilary put on 19lb of muscle for the role, having spent five months at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn where boxing greats such as Jake La Motta, Roberto Duran and Muhammad Ali trained.

And her latest part may seem a surprising choice for someone who has also played a man trapped in a woman’s body, a prostitute and a nymphomaniac.

In Freedom Writers, she stars as a teacher faced with a classroom of gang members and difficult teens. It’s based on the true story of Erin Gruwell, who taught at the notorious Woodrow Wilson High School in California.

If Swank’s roles have been predominantly blue collar, she certainly experienced the real thing before finding fame on the big screen.

Her mother left Washington State for Los Angeles with just Û75 in her purse so that Hilary could pursue her dream of an acting career.

They lived in their car before moving to an empty house owned by friends where they slept on inflatable mattresses and had to move out during the day so that potential buyers could view the property.

Her big break came, following a number of forgettable TV parts, when she was sacked from a regular spot on teen drama Beverly Hills 90210.

It opened the door for Hilary to take the lead role of Brandon Teena, a girl who lived her life as a boy, in the 1999 film Boys Don’t Cry.

The low-budget role earned her first Oscar and she has never looked back in the intervening eight years.

Her other new film is the rom-com PS, I Love You with the leading man of 300, Scots actor Gerard Butler.

“Gerard’s so great,” she said. “He is so fantastic and funny. I’m so happy 300 has brought so much attention because he deserves it.

“He’s such a great guy, a real professional, who loves his job and he shows up and gives 1000 per cent.

“We had a great, great time, and we’re actually looking to do other movies together.

“That’s how great it was working with him.’

And after all that, it’s time, at last, for Hilary to take a well-earned break.

“I did four movies back to back so I’m ready to take some time off and take that rest.

“I need it.”

Profile: Hilary Swank finds faith for The Reaping

By Sean Elliott
Source: iF Magazine

The actress talks about the blessings that she has had in her life

Hilary Swank has no fear of snakes, frogs, bugs, or getting her hands dirty. She was raised a tomboy and had no problem tromping through swamps for her new horror flick The Reaping, which opens this weekend. Swank plays a former ordained minister who has lost her faith and now debunks miracles for a living. When she comes up against the ten plagues of God she has to re-discover her faith or perish in the face of God’s seeming wrath. Swank shared with iF MAGAZINE her thoughts about faith and the different sides of having a skeptical nature.

iF MAGAZINE: What drew you to this movie?
Hilary Swank: When I was reading this script it was such a surprise, because I think it’s a supernatural thriller that is so smart. When Joel [Silver] sent it to me, it was a week before the Academy Awards for Million Dollar Baby, and he said he wanted me to read it “right now!” and it couldn’t wait. It was a real page-turner and I enjoyed it and I didn’t see a lot of the twists and turns coming, which is really tough to say nowadays. It’s hard to fool me because I’ve read a lot of scripts just like people have seen a lot of movies, so I loved that I didn’t see some stuff coming.

iF: What was it like working with Stephen Hopkins as a director?
HS: He was great. When I signed on to do this, there was no director attached, and when Joel and I were batting out names, I was a real big fan of those first episodes that Stephen did of 24 and I liked The life and death of Peter Sellers that had just come out. I really pushed for him and fought for him. He read it and saw a lot of the same things I did and wanted to highlight the same stuff.

iF: Where does your particular spirituality fall in the spectrum?
HS: I believe in a higher power. I wasn’t baptized or raised with an organized religion, but it’s definitely interesting. Part of my job as an actor that is so great, is that I get to read and learn about all different walks and types of life and different ways of thinking and it certainly makes me more open minded. I love that; I love having that opportunity to get to talk to people like the ones who write “The Skeptic Mind” magazine and hear that they believe that there is a scientific reason for everything. You can sit there and ask them anything and they will have an answer for it, where as other people will come in and say that things can’t be scientifically proven and are nothing short of miracles. I love that you can have both sides represented in a movie.

iF: Then where do you stand on miracles?
HS: I feel like I’ve seen in my own life things that I wouldn’t say are miraculous, but they are a blessing and I think I have a lot of luck. I haven’t, myself, witnessed a miracle.

iF: How hard was it to spit out the huge monologue about the scientific explanation for the 10 plagues of Egypt and is back and forth dialogue easier?
HS: Great writing huh? [Laughs] I had the same thing in Freedom Writers where I had big speeches to rattle off with little or no back and forth, which is easier to remember because you are reacting to someone else and what they are saying and that helps you remember your line. It took me a long while to remember that whole speech, it was about two weeks of memorizing and working on it when I was off set because not only was it long, but she rattles it off so fast!

iF: Do your Academy Awards make a difference as to how people react to you, and what do you do to put them at ease?
HS: I put them down and ask if they will polish them. [Laughs] No just kidding, but people I meet aren’t really intimidated by the awards wins. We’re all just actors starting from scratch and I think the minute they see me mess up a scene they know I’m just like them. I was fortunate enough to be blessed to do movies that people enjoyed enough to honor me with an award. I get up every morning and do a quadruple take at trying to remember what that is in my house. I don’t think it’s even sunk in with me. I still make the same mistakes and lose my place and want someone to help me.

iF: Do you think there is some sort of expectation placed on actors who have won an Academy Award to keep picking those same sort of award winning roles?
HS: I think after Boys don’t cry I did because it came out of nowhere and the year before I was doing 90210, and where did I go from there. But, you can’t be in that mind set. Nothing’s perfect. Those performances weren’t perfect; they were flawed. My goal is to continue to challenge myself and to grow and learn and move forward.

iF: This is a character driven piece is that what made you choose to do a horror movie?
HS: I certainly like characters that are rich and multifaceted, because I think we all are and everybody has a lot going on in their lives and there is more to us than meets of the eye. Life gives us so many things to play.

iF: How were you in dealing with the swamp and locusts and all of the outdoorsy aspects of this film shoot?
HS: I’m a lot better than Idris Elba is. [Laughs] He hates spiders and hates swamps. I grew up out in the country and I was a tomboy and I liked climbing trees and tree forts and frogs and I grew up by a lake. Idris, he hates all of that, Anna Sophia and I would get a good laugh when they brought the locusts out. We’d have them crawling all over us, and he’d have nothing to do with it. The scene where he fell in the swamp, he actually fell, and he had those big waders on and they filled with water and he couldn’t get back up.

iF: Where are you at with your state of mind in your career?
HS: I’m really happy that I get to do what I love. I’ve wanted to be an actor since I was eight years old and now, here in this place where I’m talking about my movie and my future jobs and my past jobs, I’m always happy to talk about what I do. I’m just glad that I get to be a working actor, and I get to wake up everyday and say that I love what I do. : I’m really happy that I get to do what I love. I’ve wanted to be an actor since I was eight years old and now, here in this place where I’m talking about my movie and my future jobs and my past jobs, I’m always happy to talk about what I do. I’m just glad that I get to be a working actor, and I get to wake up everyday and say that I love what I do.

Hilary Swank ‘reaps’ the benefits of newest religious thriller

By Kristin Gorman
Source: Weekender

Hilary Swank adds to her myriad roles with Katherine Winter, a missionary-turned-skeptic in the innovative thriller “The Reaping.” The film details Winter’s experiences as she enters a small town experiencing something beyond peculiar – the second coming of the Ten Biblical Plagues. As Winters attempts to reveal the scientific meaning behind the occurrences, her world whirls into a suspenseful, religiously based thriller. In a conference call, Swank discussed her interest in this script as well as her experiences dealing with such a controversial topic.

Question: As a two-time Oscar winner, I’m guessing that you’re now afforded a greater opportunity to choose your own roles. How does your decision-making process work?
Hilary Swank: You know what, I simply go by the script. It’s all script. It’s just my reaction to the script, whether it be, you know, challenging a new way or, I mean, it doesn’t matter what genre it is as long as I laugh or cry or I’m scared if [it's] suspenseful.

Q: So it’s kind of a case-by-case basis.
HS: Completely. I’m not actually out there searching for things. I just try and find something when I’m reading that moves me in some way or scares me in some way, but ultimately challenges me.

Q: Which parts [of the film] were scary [for you]? Were you surprised when you saw the final product?
HS: You know that’s actually a great question because even though I read the script, and you obviously act it in the movie, when I watched the movie I got scared at certain points. And all my friends looked at me like, but you know what happens. And yet I forgot that some of those things happened.

Q: What did you need to do to prepare for your role? Did you have to go back and re-read parts of the Bible or anything along those lines?
HS: I played a person who was a missionary and who had faith in the beginning, but then loses her faith and becomes a professor of debunking miracles and myths. What I did was – there’s a lot of books out there. And there’s a thing called “The Skeptical Inquirer” which is this magazine that Stephen Hopkins, our director, had me read. And I read these things and the parts of the Bible that I read were just about the plagues. I was just really interested in reading about them. But yeah I did actually a lot of reading just because I’d never really heard of anything like these Skeptical Inquirers and it was really interesting that these people believe that there’s a scientific answer for everything. So it’s great to see all these different outlooks.

Q: I know that “The Reaping” has something to say about both faith and scientific fact. I wanted to know where faith fits in your life. And between the presence of God and scientific truth, what you feel to be more important in your life?
HS: Well I definitely have more a faith – I’m more faith-driven than skeptic-driven. It was definitely interesting though to read about these people who are skeptics and their ideas of it and how they feel like there’s a scientific answer for everything. But I’m definitely more on the faith side.

Q: The press release kind of talked about the battle of [science] versus religion [in the film] and put the two kind of like ideas with a lot of opposition. Do you think the movie really only looks at it in terms of opposition, or does it brings sort of reconciliation to the two ideas?
HS: I think that it brings a place for both to be seen. There’s room for both of them and one person isn’t going to think, you know, oh it’s more one way than the other. It definitely… makes you think about it and makes you think about these types of things. But I think more than anything it’s an entertaining movie. I mean, it’s a fun movie and it certainly makes you think.

Q: You’ve played quite a few troubled characters [in the past]. Do you see yourself being in a comedic role anytime in the near future?
HS: Yeah I actually have “P.S., I Love You” coming out this year. And that’s definitely a romantic comedy, and so you should check that out too. It was a really fun movie to do and very different from this movie and very different from “Million Dollar Baby” [2004] and different from “Freedom Writers” [2007].

Q: Since the film is heavy on special effects, you had to do a lot of blue screen work. Which is more challenging for you – coming up with a complex human emotion while acting with people or playing fear against something you can’t see?
HS: Well it’s definitely different and I wouldn’t say one is more challenging than the other. What I love is that it’s just different. It’s different than what I’ve done before. It’s doing something on a blue screen and you don’t have anything to react off [of] that’s right in front of you. So it’s definitely different and mixes it up and that’s what I love. I love that new challenge. It was really fun to see all the locusts that weren’t really there when I watched the movie – to see what I was reacting off of which was nothing and just pretend. But then to see them actually on the screen … it’s great how a film can do that.