Clint Eastwood made Million Dollar Baby in 2004, with Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman. The film which was presented as a boxing drama turned out to be a poignant and emotional exploration of a father-daughter relationship that develops between Swank and Eastwood’s characters. The film also went on to win four Oscars including Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Picture.
At the time of release, the film received acclaim from critics and audiences. However, there were some sections of people who were concerned that the film had a hidden agenda against specially-abled people and protested against the film. Eastwood addressed the stupidity of this situation while dismissing any hidden agenda whatsoever.
Clint Eastwood Shrugged Off Allegations of Any Hidden Agenda in Million Dollar Baby
Clint Eastwood‘s Million Dollar Baby had Hilary Swank playing an aspiring boxer. In her pursuit of success, she suffers from a tragic accident that puts an end to her boxing career, while becoming a quadriplegic. She requests Eastwood’s character to euthanize her as she cannot keep on living in her current state. This provocative twist in the film had some people brutally criticizing the film.
They went on to say that the film had a hidden agenda against the specially-abled individuals and exposed how normal people saw and perceived these people in real life. Eastwood addressed the stupidity of this controversy and laid down how people find cowardly ways to criticize good work. He said, (via MovieBob Central)
“Well, I got a big laugh out of that. These people are always bitching about “Hollyweird,” and then they start bitching about this film. Are they all so mad because The Passion of the Christ is only up for the makeup award and a couple of other minor things? Extremism is so easy. You’ve got your position, and that’s it. It doesn’t take much thought. And when you go far enough to the right you meet the same idiots coming around from the left.”
The film was an emotional exploration of the relationship of the characters and did not have any hidden agenda underneath it. People should somewhat dissociate their socio-political beliefs while watching a film and should not blame a film for advocating evil agendas if they see something that they don’t agree with.
Hilary Swank Was in Awe Of Being in a Clint Eastwood Film
Hilary Swank was cast as an aspiring boxer in Clint Eastwood’s 2004 film Million Dollar Baby. She had been a huge fan of the actor and had grown up watching his films all her life. Therefore, it was a dream come true for the actress to be directed by and to act alongside him in the firm. She told Movieweb,
“Clint walks into a room and everyone just stops. They just do. Everyone. Everyone just stops. It’s everybody. It’s actors, it’s directors, and people who have just as much talent as him that are just as amazing as him are still taken by Clint. I mean, he’s an icon, he’s a legend, he’s part of our film history in a way. I mean, I grew up watching Clint Eastwood movies.
Obviously, I know he’s talented as a director, a producer, an actor, a musician, so I had those expectations of just working with him. But other people who had worked with him said, ‘You’re going to have the best experience of your life with Clint Eastwood. Just the whole process of working with him, knowing him, getting to meet him, everything.’
Everyone just went on and on. So your imagination is pretty imaginative and our expectations I think are really hard to match most of the time. But Clint exceeded my expectations and then some. He is obviously very talented. I think this is his best acting to date. He’s 74 and it’s his best acting I believe. It’s in my opinion.”
The film earned Swank her second Oscar for Best Actress after Boys Don’t Cry and Eastwood also got his second Oscar for Best Director after Unforgiven. The film also nabbed the Oscar for Best Picture.