March 27, 2000

by Veronica Mixon

Indie lesbian director, Kimberly Peirce made the film for only two million dollars. It was a taunt, moving portrait of a young woman who chooses to live as a man and had paid for it with her life. In casting the young, unknown Hilary Swank, Peirce had bravely followed her instincts and the struggling actress had poured all her skill and emotions into the role.

"I'm so jealous that I didn't get a chance to do Cider House Rules," Swank told me a few months ago. "John Irving is a great author and I love Lasse Hallstrom's My Life as a Dog." Yet, when the nominations were announced for Oscar 2000, the actress who beat her out for the role wasn't even mentioned.

Swank's remarkable performance as Brandon Teena is daring, powerful and breathtaking. It strikes at the heart of adolescent sexual identity and the widespread confusion about homosexuality that is so often troubling for many Americans. When the grizzly murder was reported, Peirce knew that Brandon Teena's story of gender bending struck at the heart of issues that she wanted to explore.

"It's the ultimate challenge. It was so exciting to stretch and work at my craft because usually these roles get offered to other people," explained Swank. Her agent told her up front that not only would she have to cut her hair off but also there would be intimate scenes with another actress. But, the struggling actor relished the opportunity to something different.

"Some actresses wouldn't even come in for the audition," says Swank, who lived as a boy for a month before the actual shooting began. "To me, it would be doing the film a grave injustice if I didn't do what Brandon had really done."

As for the love scenes with co-star, Chloe Sevigny, who was also nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category, Swank wasn't troubled. "Those were probably the easiest scenes. All you're doing is loving someone else. I think a lot of people get too caught in the gender thing, she explained. "The hardest scenes were re-enacting the rape. I'm acting but this happened to somebody that was really difficult."

Swank was born in Lincoln, Nebraska in the same hospital as Brandon Teena, who was two years older than the 25-year-old actress. Her father was in the military and moved the family to Bellingham, Washington where Swank grew up. She started performing in school plays and told her mother about her love for acting. Eventually, the two moved to California when Swank was sixteen and lived in an old Oldsmobile Cutless until they found a house.

She worked in a number of television productions and in 1992, she landed her first film role as Buffy's best friend in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The role as a Valley Girl in this comic romp was the beginning.