She might have been MIA for a while now, but actress Hilary Swank sure knows how to make a comeback. After spending the better part of the last couple of years tending to her ill father, the 44-year-old actress is back, albeit on the small screen with the show Trust, directed by Danny Boyle. Set in 1973, the show recounts the abduction of John Paul Getty III, the then heir to Getty Oil, when he was in Italy. Swank was last seen in the drama film You’re Not You, in 2014, post which she took three years off to be with her father, who had to undergo a lung transplant. But the leave of absence did not slow down the Oscar-winning actress, who has in the past been a part of blockbusters like Boys Don’t Cry (2000), Million Dollar Baby (2005) and Amelia (2009). In 2017 alone, she shot for two movies and the TV show Trust, where she plays Gail Getty, the wife of John Paul Getty. In a chat with us, she tells us more about the Getty story, the importance of women characters in the series and more.
Some of the story, was actually told from the recollections and the perspective of Gail Getty. What is your sense of her both as a woman but also as a historian, if you will, of the Getty story? How reliable is Gail’s interpretation?
Gail’s reality of it might be different than, say, John’s reality of it. But in the end, it’s her son that’s kidnapped. I think that any parent in this situation has the fear or the feeling of, “What’s my responsibility in this?” Any time that something happens and your child falls into some type of trouble, you think, ‘What did I do to make that happen?” But the truth is, that when you’re growing up, you’re naïve and you make a lot of mistakes, and you get in a lot of trouble, and that’s just a part of it. That’s compounded in this story because her son is in the limelight.
Does Paul Getty serve as an example of toxic masculinity? How important are the women characters in this story?
I think that the majority of people in power are men. And it’s an environment or a world in which women have been navigating for a long time. But I think there’s a shift happening, because of which women are going to start being represented and seen in films and television in more diverse ways. And that’s exciting. This goes for all genders, not just women. I think that people are multifaceted, and I think that people are really deep. There is more to a person than sometimes meets the eye. So exploring that is one of the great things that the art form of television and film can give us. That’s why it’s also universal.
What made you give up your TV, if you ever had one?
I’ve never watched television, not even as a kid. I don’t like to be inside. I love being outdoors. I love being active. For me, the idea of going to a movie theatre is outside. I don’t even sit in my own house and do much there. I don’t sit around a lot. It’s not that I’m not interested in the ideas that are on television. It’s just the idea of sitting anywhere for too long isn’t interesting to me.
You could put your TV in the garden...
Do you think you could see the screen well if you did that?
Or you could stream it on your phone...
Oh my gosh, that sounds terrible! It also sounds like a walking headache. I think I’d get dizzy. I don’t like to look at small screens like that.
What are your earliest memories of television?
Well, my parents obviously owned a TV. I do remember watching what I called Walt “Digsney,” because I didn’t know how to say Disney. So I remember watching some old Mickey Mouse cartoons at a really young age, when it wasn’t the animated stuff it is now.
So, did the desire to act come purely from going to the movies?
Yes. The idea to act came from watching movies like The Elephant Man, Miracle Worker and The Wizard of Oz and seeing these characters who were feeling things that I was feeling. My life has been
so enriched by the characters that I’ve been so blessed to play. It blows open my blinders of how I see the world. That’s what I love about movies and stories... and now, TV!
What was it like being directed by Danny Boyle?
He’s such a storyteller even when you talk to him. He has so much energy. He’s like a puppy dog, as he’s always enthusiastic, he’s always right there with you. He would work seven days a week, 24 hours a day if the unions would let him. He’s passionate and enthusiastic and all-encompassing.