Hilary Swank interview

Two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank talks to marieclaire.co.uk

In P.S. I Love You, two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank, 33, plays Holly Kennedy, a young widow that discovers her late husband (300’s Gerard Butler) has left her a series of letters to help her grieve.

You’ve been working pretty hard of late. Is this a new you?

It’s very rare for me to do movies back-to-back, very rare – because it’s hard to find good material. To go from The Black Dahlia to The Reaping to Freedom Writers to P.S. I Love You – four completely different movies – was unheard of for me.

P.S. I Love You is your second film with director Richard LaGravenese, after Freedom Writers, last year. How did it come about?

Well, I loved collaborating with Richard. But it just so happened that I read P.S. I Love You before I did Freedom Writers. It was at Warner Brothers and I always said to them, ‘I really like this movie and I really want to make it.’ When I finished Freedom Writers, I said, ‘Why don’t you direct this? I don’t think there’s any other director that can give it as much life as you.’ So he came on board and we did it.

You’ve won two Oscars, which is remarkable. How does that make you feel?

I didn’t ever enter into this business to win awards. I love acting and I love my job and I’m always looking for interesting movies, whether they’re funny or sad or scary. But I never look at it for any reasons other than that.

Do you see your rise to fame as lucky?

I had a person say to me once – and I love the saying – that the definition of luck is when ‘Hard work meets with opportunity’ and I have certainly been given a lot of opportunities. A handful of people believed in me and gave me the chance – that’s the miraculous part!

What’s the weirdest thing about being a celebrity?

People that jump out of bushes with cameras. I’ll be running on a trail somewhere and someone will jump out and start taking a picture. It’s very strange. I go, ‘Aghh!’ and I keep running.

P.S. I Love You opens on 4 January.