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Hilary Swank: One In A Million
By : Silvia Maestrutti
This 30-year-old, two-time Academy Award winner refuses to act like a celebrity. Like Meryl Streep, who Swank says without any hesitation has been her greatest inspiration, she's one of those who simply focuses on being a good actor, "a work in progress," as the saying goes in Hollywood.
"I really recommend that actors always work on their skills," she says. "If you're not prepared when that dream audition comes, you are not going to get that opportunity. To me, the definition of success is when opportunity meets preparation."
Swank says she prepares by always studying new acting techniques and reading lots of scripts to find the more challenging roles, like the girl who wanted to be a boy in Boys Don't Cry—which earned her the first Academy Award in 1999—and the humble boxer Maggie Fitzgerald in Million Dollar Baby, which earned her a second Oscar a few months ago.
Refusing to be a target of the paparazzi, she moved five years ago from her home in Pacific Palisades—a Los Angeles neighborhood of mansions—to the anonymity of a Greenwich Village apartment, where she can take the subway and walk her two dogs without being bothered. Married to actor Chad Lowe since 1997, Swank is happy to have achieved a low profile, which enables her to completely focus on what's most important to her: her career.
Her career began when she was 16 with a role in one of the Karate Kid films. A few years later, the tall, slender, brown-haired actress played Carly Reynolds, the sensual single mother from the "Beverly Hills 90210" television series. She'll play another seductive woman this year in a remake of Black Dhalia, directed by Brian de Palma. The film is about Elizabeth Short, an actress killed during the 1940s who was considered to be one of the most beautiful women of her era.
Swank's talent wasn't taken seriously by Hollywood until after she received her first Academy Award at 24. From that moment on, the secret of her methodology was revealed: hiding herself within her characters, even dissecting them if necessary. She spent a month dressed as a young man and lived among other young men before playing the role of the lesbian Teena Brandon, who ends up being killed in Boys Don't Cry. She also spent hours and hours in the offices of New York human rights lawyers in preparation for the role of an exiled South African who returns to her post-apartheid nation in the film Red Dust. And she gained 22 pounds of muscle to box until the final bell in Clint Eastwood's latest masterpiece.
Your training as a boxer changed your body. What made you go to this extreme?
I figured that if I was going to play a boxer, I had to look like one. Ultimately, that's part of my job. You can learn from all the experiences. Here, I learned that the human body is a perfect machine that can adapt to everything. I trained four hours a day, six days a week during three months with Hector Roca—a boxing professional trainer—hitting the bag nonstop. Under the supervision of a nutritionist, I gained 20 pounds of muscle. I did that by eating 210 grams of protein a day, mostly egg whites. And at one point I had only 50 grams of carbs a day. Just to give you an example of what that is, a can of applesauce has 30 grams of carbs. You do the math.
Clint Eastwood bragged about the fact that you didn't want to use a double. And your sparring partner, the boxer Lucia Rijker, said that she injured you more than once in the face. Why would you take such a risk?
I was always very athletic, and ever since I read the script, I knew I was going to do it by myself. I went to the Junior Olympics as a swimmer when I was 12. I think in breaststroke, I got a second place, and in backstroke, I was fourth. But the first time I had to box, they said rounds were only three minutes long, so I thought that it was going to be easy. As I reached the middle of the third round, I was hugging my sparring partner and almost passed out. It involved a lot of sacrifice, but it was worth it.
What do you look for when choosing a role?
Although I have portrayed less challenging roles—I have to pay the bills—the challenge for me is the story and what the movie is about. With Million Dollar Baby, it was about the story and about the script. The relationship between Frankie and Maggie Fitzgerald is so moving—it's the power of that relationship, the power of a mentor and the power of another person believing in you. And, besides that, it's very important to know who's driving. When I was told Clint Eastwood was directing the film, I didn't hesitate for a second, and I was right. Clint says an actor should trust his instincts, and I did it. And he exceeded any expectations I ever had.
Your character in Million Dollar Baby lives in a trailer, and in your childhood you lived in one as well. Did this help you better understand this character?
Definitively. Coming from a humble family helps you understand the ambition and perseverance that drives a character like Maggie. Luckily, my family wasn't like hers: they respected and loved me. Having to sleep in a car with my mom when we arrived in Los Angeles to follow my dream of becoming an actress was a challenging and nourishing experience.
One would assume that you've been receiving fabulous scripts after winning your first Oscar. Nevertheless, you said that it hasn't happened. Why do you think that is?
There are not that many great roles, for women especially. It's the truth, a shared belief in Hollywood. And they don't always give you the opportunity to prove yourself. At the beginning of my career, many people didn't want to take me seriously. I started my career in comedy, and that's a stereotype. But I love comedy, and I would adore working with Jim Carrey. I wouldn't consider that a lighter role.
You've won many awards. What do you think of them?
Being nominated is good enough for me, and I'm very thankful when I win. I feel lucky and honored because I can work doing what I love. I'm living my dream, and there are a lot of talented actresses out there who can't even get an agent.
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