Movie Star Blog

Hilary Swank got her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today, and after giving a humble acceptance speech (trailer parks... rolls of quarters... following your dreams... biscuits and gravy), she did something unusual – she acknowledged the crowd and signed autographs. I go to a lot of these ceremonies and, trust me, rarely do the stars get close to the weirdo Hollywood crowd.

Presenters: Jack Nicholson, Jake Gyllenhaal, Eric Bana, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Stiller, John Travolta, Ziyi Zhang, Hilary Swank, Jamie Foxx, Morgan Freeman, Jessica Alba, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Keanu Reeves, Will Ferrell, Queen Latifah, Terrence Howard, Meryl Streep, Will Smith, Steve Carell, Nicole Kidman, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Uma Thurman, Charlize Theron, Naomi Watts, Lily Tomlin, Reese Witherspoon, George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez and Salma Hayek

Cool trivia: Dutch kickboxing menace Lucia Rijker not only co-stars in it, but also trained Hilary Swank, the film’s lead actress. In this interview with Filmfocus (the interview is in Dutch, apologies to my foreign readers), she’s surprisingly frank about Swank’s performance and the movie’s glorification of boxing, but also acknowledges that “this is a love story above all else”.

Transgendered people have been depicted onscreen before. Hilary Swank won her first Oscar for her portrayal of Brandon Teena in Boys Don't Cry. I still haven't seen the movie. I'm not sure that I could watch the scenes of violence. But that was really the first time that I became aware of female to male (FTM) transgendered individuals.

I’ve decided to post about a movie that has touched me in ways that no other film ever has, the movie is “Boys Don’t Cry” released in 1999 starring Hilary Swank as the real life Teena Brandon, a sexually confused young girl living in Nebraska. Below is the full story taken from crimelibrary.com , it is the best written explination of the facts and what happened that night.

I will say this about Million Dollar Baby (Warner Bros., Rated R, DVD-$29.95) – it’s not as maudlin or overwrought as Mystic River. Still, all of the heavy hallmarks of a Clint Eastwood film are there in this flick that’s disturbingly similar to the last entry in the Karate Kid series, as Hilary Swank again finds herself being tutored in an arcane martial art by a grizzled old man, with boxing replacing Karate this go ‘round. The 2-disc set features a roundtable with James Lipton (featuring Swank, Eastwood, and Morgan Freeman), a look at the parallels between the film and real life boxer Lucia Rijker, a behind-the-scenes featurette, and the theatrical trailer. A 3-disc edition featuring the soundtrack is also available ($39.98 SRP).

After watching Hilary Swank’s Oscar winning performance in Million Dollar Baby, i knew i had to watch her breakthrough role in 1999’s seminal Boys Don’t Cry. Boys Don’t Cry is a film that Roger Ebert proclaimed as “One of The Best Films of the Year“, and coming from Ebert, argurably one of the best film critics around, i knew that it was exactly the kind of arthouse film that i liked. I was hoping for something that would be as good as 2003’s Monster starring Charlize Theron, a film that similarly banks on the outstanding performance of its lead actress. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite what i had expected, but still an intense journey nevertheless.

I have so many favorite movies that span decades of production, but though it is the most recent addition to my list, this year's top Oscar winner found its way into my top five of all time even after just seeing it once. Like the toast sequence in Sophie's Choice, this movie spoke to me in a way that no other film ever has--it takes you on an emotional rollercoaster that reaches deep down inside you and leaves you soaring one moment before ripping your heart out the next. There is no other character from a movie that I see myself in more than Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank); her gutsiness, passion, and determination to achieve her ambitions no matter what the cost are the same attributes by which I strive to live my own life, and, just like Clint Eastwood's character, Frankie Dunn, and his assistant, Scrap (Morgan Freeman), a core network of friends, professors, colleagues, and family have always stuck by me and trained me to never give any less than I can offer.

Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart and Hilary Swank have signed on to star in the film, which is scheduled to premiere in 2006.

Hilary Swank makes me nervous. She never convinces me of anything. She may have gotten an acting award but she still seems brittle and false to me. You never forget that she's acting or, in this case, channelling DiNero and John Garfield. In the concluding scenes I found her irritating as hell.

Here’s a grand statement: Million Dollar Baby should have won “Best Picture” at the Oscars. Clint Eastwood, who churned out the prize-winning film in 37 days, should have won “Best Director.” Morgan Freeman, who has been snubbed despite mind-blowing performances in Driving Ms. Daisy and The Shawshank Redemption, deserved his “Best Supporting Actor” grab; and Hilary Swank, who has consistently risen above her The Next Karate Kid roots (only to sink below them in her acceptance speeches), was the only choice for “Best Actress.”

I don’t think I have ever seen a film so melodramatic, soppy, stereotypical, predictable. In every single way, perhaps except for the camerawork, the film was made of elements seen before ad nauseam, only now jumbled together in an even larger group than usual. Especially the plot was horridly pulpish, and the symbolism unbearable. The ending, which I must say I don’t regret I missed, was even worse (as I have been told), at a time when one could not imagine the klichés to continue, the sobbing to go on, the melodrama to peak further....

Maybe it’s because I simply can’t drink as much as I used to, but the Oscars just don’t entertain me like they used to. Not to mention the fact that I wasn’t much excited by any of the nominated movies this year. In fact, the last time I felt enthusiastic about the Academy Awards was when Hilary Swank won the first time, and that’s because I had a crush on "Boys Don’t Cry" director Kimberly Peirce (when will she direct her next movie??). I also thought it would be a big deal for a movie about the transgendered Brandon...

Oscar winner Hilary Swank and her husband, actor Chad Lowe, are such big fans of the game charades that the couple is producing a new game show which has Hollywood celebrities competing in miming matches for charity.

A couple of days later, I tell a friend what I've been up to with the bike club, and she says, 'You're turning into bloody Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby' .

Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) is a down-on-his-luck former boxing manager who spends the twilight years of his life running a small, dilapidated gym in downtown Los Angeles. Frankie’s previous career was blighted by an injury to one of his prize fighters, Scrap (Morgan Freeman), who lost the sight in his right eye during a particularly brutal bout; Scrap now whiles away the hours working as a cleaner in Frankie’s gym. Wary of similar occurrences being inflicted on the young talent that passes before him, Frankie lets great boxers slip...

Watched “Million Dollar Baby” a couple of days ago. Thought it was a very good movie. Not the best, but good enough. Although the plotting is a bit old fashioned, the actings were definitely supreme, especially Hilary Swank. The conclusion was, it is more appropriate for it to win the Best Picture than “The Aviator”, among all the not so high quality films this year.

Clint Eastwood dirige e interpreta uno de los papeles principales. Hilary Swank interpreta a Maggie Fitzgerald, la protagonista de la película. El papel secundario está protagonizado por Morgan Freeman, que interpreta a un boxeador retirado hace ya años. Million Dollar Baby nos cuenta la historia de Maggie, cuyo objetivo es convertirse en la campeona del título de Boxeo en su categoría. Y no diré más, porque es una película para ir a verla. Que no te cuenten nada. No quieras saber nada acerca de ella. Ves a verla. Te sorprenderá.

The party was a lot of fun (see Musings 1, “Hey Where Am I?” tour) and she was very nice and a pleasure to meet. It’s always fun to meet someone and then see them in a movie. Had I not met Hilary Swank then I would have definitely thought she would be LARGE and have a punch like a Mac Truck! Same with meeting Raquel Welch, I thought she would be like 6 feet tall but in real life… life size is life size. Very cool.

Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) started working when she was 13, for nearly 30 years she had been on her own, working as a waitress, eating customer leftovers, saving up her money and looking for the purpose of her life. When she was 31 she decided to take a chance in boxing, and she fought her way through and gave everything she had. However she was beaten by her own luck, a tragic injury that she could never recover from. What was the first thing she said? “Tell Frankie that I am sorry, I should’ve protect myself, I shouldn’t have turn”

Hilary Swank, who won a best actress Oscar for the movie ``Million Dollar Baby,'' was fined NZ$200 ($142) plus NZ$30 costs for failing to declare an apple and an orange when she visited New Zealand in January.

Erasmus thinks Hilary Swank probably doesn't realize the tremendous positive influence she's having on the health of the entire country by talking publicly about her use of flax oil during her nine-week training experience.

"The only thing that's unusual in this case is that it's Hilary Swank and she's famous."

The curve of Hilary Swank's back is a sculptor's nocturnal emission. I wasn't fond of the front of her dress - she looked like she was being choked by it - but I could sure see its purpose when she turned around.

Erasmus thinks Hilary Swank probably doesn"t realize the tremendous positive influence she's having on the health of the entire country by talking publicly about her use of flax oil during her nine week training experience.