Hilary Swank: in the ring with the movies' fighting spirit

Interview, March, 2005 by Ingrid Sischy

Hilary Swank and Interview's editor in chief, Ingrid Sischy, have just been seated at a banquette at Matsuri restaurant. It's been a full day. They've come from the cover shoot for this issue, which mostly took place at Pier 59, with Max Vadukul behind the camera. There was also a hilarious side trip, in the freezing cold and biting wind, to B & E Quality Beverages, a nearby beer distributor on 23rd Street. The movies couldn't invent more of a pop-art place than this vibrant joint, and as a location it gave Swank the chance to pay respect to the life she might have had if she hadn't grabbed her dream and gone for it.

Swank Was right at home behind the counter, climbing up and down ladders in her Versace red-carpet number and driving the forklift like a pro. By the time she was done she'd enamored herself to the guys who normally keep B & E Beverages fizzing. Memento snapshots were taken, autographs signed, and then the actress, her dog Lucky, Sischy, Vadukul, stylist Kate Young, hair guru Ward, makeup wiz Polly Osmond, and the rest of the Interview gang braced the cold to return to the studio. With the interview still at hand and stomachs rumbling, Swank, Lucky, and Sischy took their leave. Lucky was chauffeured to the West Village, where his dinner and a warm bed were waiting for him, while Swank and Sischy settled into their booth and had the conversation that follows.

HILARY SWANK: I just love this recorder.

INGRID SISCHY: It's an old warhorse. People always want to buy me a newer, more state-of-the-art one, but I like this old clunker. For me, the morality of it is that the other person knows it's there. You know, I don't like those sneaky little superslick instruments. You forget they're there. Technologically, I'm sure they're really great, but give me this old champ any day.

HS: That's so funny. Yeah. You do know it's there, you know it's on, you know it's running. It's a piece of history in itself. We're making history right now as we watch these little wheels of tape go round.

IS: Hilary, what's moving for me about interviewing you is that I've gotten to watch the whole thing up close, right? And as I said to you earlier today, I remember coming to your house in L.A. with Bruce Weber and his team to photograph you for the special we did on actors and singers and artists and their animals. It was quite a while before Boys Don't Cry [1999] would make a splash. I'd heard about your performance through the grapevine, and I'd heard you had a real menagerie, which you were crazy about--and boy was that true.

HS: We still have the rabbit and the cat. We have one more bird, one less dog, one more dog, and they still all get along.

IS: Well, it was really something. When we finished with you we still had about seven more people to shoot that night, and you--

HS: And we said, "Come out and get some Mexican food."

IS: That was how many years ago, Hilary? About five? What's interesting is that we actually did another shoot with you right afterward. I saw Boys Don't Cry, and we photographed you immediately. This time it was Herb Ritts shooting you for our April 2000 cover. We were placing bets on you for the Best Actress Oscar for the film. When you won we were so happy for you and so proud--we were the only magazine out there with you on the cover. Now, with Million Dollar Baby, you've pulled off another major piece of work. When you see someone do that twice, as you now have, it's clear this is about more than great parts. This is about acting.

HS: Thank you for saying that. After doing Boys Don't Cry, I thought I was going to get all these opportunities to be part of really great movies, to tell really great stories, and to play really great characters. I don't want to take away from the things I've done, many of which were terrific projects, but what I realized is that movies that kick ass are just few and far between. They aren't really out there, and when they are, everyone clamors for them. I've always appreciated how lucky I am to be a working actor, but in the years following Boys Don't Cry, I've come to have a whole new appreciation for what it is to be part of quality material. I'm actually quite surprised that it only took five years to find another kick-ass role--I thought maybe I'd get that kind of opportunity once every 25 years. I joke that I'm black-and-blue because I pinch myself every day--I'm not really black-and-blue, of course, but I do pinch myself every day. This new role challenged me to my core. That's what I love as an artist: to be able to push myself to my limit and try and push myself past it, to try and break through it. It's where my passion lies.

IS: One of the things that struck me about your performances in both Boys Don't Cry and Million Dollar Baby is that you never look down on the characters you play--I never felt like you needed to wink to the audience to say, "I'm just playing this part; it's really me, Hilary Swank." You never go slumming with your parts. You seemed to really love those characters, and I think that's one of the things that win people's hearts. It's like you have a profound understanding of and respect for the people you're playing.