Would Swank have what it takes to be a journalist in real life?
Yes,Hilary Swankhas found a new dangerous profession to portray onscreen.
“I read the article and I was blown away by the statistics and the facts.
It’s obviously systemic and nothing’s being done about it.
Those are the stories I seek.”
“No one’s going to stop her from getting there.
It’s something I admire in people people who don’t give up, who persevere.”
There’s so much richness in that exploration."
(She notes that she spoke with severalAnchorage DailyNewsreporters before filming.)
And what kind of journalist would she be in real life?
Hit record and let’s go on the record with Swank.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Imagine that you Hilary Swank, not Eileen are a journalist.
Are you using an old school notebook and/or a micro recorder?
Are you taking notes on your iPhone?
HILARY SWANK:I’m using what you’re holding.
How are you dressed?
Are you wearing a fedora hat emblazoned with the word “scoop”?
And my little pipe!
I would say kind of like Eileen Fitzgerald.
She’s a hip Brooklynite.
Comfortable but professional enough to look like you belong there.
What’s your relationship with your editor like?
Are you two best friends?
Are you scrapping hard, but there’s mutual respect?
Or are you just always at each other’s throats?
How do you feel about deadlines?
Meeting them or missing them?
It depends on when it’s going to print.
When are you asking the tough question the beginning of the interview, the middle, or the end?
I think I’d slip it in somewhere when it’s unexpected.
What quality of yours would make you a good journalist?
From where I have come from, it makes it so that I can hang out with anyone.
I’m like a T-shirt.
T-shirts go with anybody.
And which quality of yours would make you a terrible journalist?
Is reading it on Wikipedia “close enough”?
No, not even!
I think anybody can go on and change Wikipedia.
You’ve got to be well-sourced to get the information you need.
What story would you be uniquely suited to break?
A story on rescue animals.
[Swank is a staunch animal advocate.]
Are you a grizzled print journalist with ink stains on your hands?
Or are you more of a digital journalist active across all socials?
If there’s something that intriguing or of interest to you, dig into it.
Let’s move on to the quiz part of the interview.
Do you think there’s also hyphen between Oscar and winner?
You tried to trick me!
What is “the nut graph”?
I have no idea.
What does it sound like it might be?
It sounds like the nutty people go on a graph board on your Excel sheet.
Did you know that or did you have to look that up?
We use it all the time here.
The Watergate scandal and the Pentagon Papers were stories broken byThe Washington PostandThe New York Times.
Which newspaper published which story?
[Self buzzes as if on a game show, to indicate a wrong answer]
It is libel.
What does “not for attribution” mean?
[Laughs] I know that’s “not for contribution.”
I just didn’t know what “not for attribution” was.
I think I got 40 percent right.
On the grammar part, though, you’re at 100 percent.
Well, thank God!
Not bad for a high school dropout.
