The director coached and co-starred along with the actress in the underdog ‘Million Dollar Baby,’ which became an Oscar champ 20 years ago.
Clint Eastwood helps Hilary Swank become a boxing champ in 'Million Dollar Baby.' Twenty years on, 'The Fire Inside,' in theaters Dec. 25, chronicles the story of Olympic boxer Claressa Shields., had the right physical build. “She was like a feather,” Eastwood said back then. “But what happened is, she had this great work ethic.”
Indeed, the actress trained nearly five hours a day and gained 19 pounds. Amid the grueling regimen, Swank suffered a life-threatening staphylococcus infection on her foot, but to stay true to the character she didn’t tell Eastwood. Executive producer Robert Lorenz recalls the challenge of creating packed crowds on the modest budget, with the team using lighting tricks and even inflatable movie extras. Eastwood impressed the crew with his efficient style, needing minimal takes and wrapping in July 2004 after just over a month. But Lorenz remembers that the studio had no intention of releasing it that year.
“They said, ‘We don’t have a campaign.’ Clint’s like, ‘That’s OK. Let’s just put it out,'” Lorenz tells. “That was a big part of its success because the critics hadn’t yet found a movie to champion that year.”s review deeming it “that rarest of birds, an uplifting tragedy.” The use of euthanasia spurred debate, with some advocates pushing back against the notion that disability ends one’s life.
“I was not sure the film would capture its audience because of that,” actor V.J. Foster, who played a ref, says of the emotional ending. “And the fact that it did was just wonderful.” Foster, who would go on to appear in Eastwood’s 2006 feature, is now in theaters — cracked, “I’m just a kid. I’ve got a lot of stuff to do yet.
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