QUESTION: So tell us about these masks that you had made.

HILARY SWANK: Oh yeah, the birthday masks. Well, we were down there and it was Stephen’s birthday and it’s always fun to have a birthday on a set. You just think, ‘Oh, what can I do? What can I do?’ We had so much fun on this movie, and I was thinking, ‘What can I do to Stephen? What can I do? What, how can I get him?’ And it was our first night first series of night shoots. So, our dinner was like at midnight. It was the night that I did that whole plague speech. And Stephen was in his trailer, really working and concentrating, and I had all these masks of his face made. I had the still photographer take a picture of him a few weeks before and then made all these things, and the art department cut out all the eyes and we all stuck the rubber band around them. I mean, it was a mask. It was hilarious. A hundred people with his face sitting in the tent. And he walked in thinking it was going to be a birthday cake and whatever. And he walks in and he sees all his faces singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to him. It was great. We had so much fun.

QUESTION: What as it like working with actual debunkers on this film? How did they feel about the story and what happens to Katherine?

HILARY SWANK: I think that the thing about these debunkers is they don’t have hate inside of them for people who are religious or believe in miracles. They just really feel strongly that there’s a scientific answer for everything. And I’m sure that they have probably a scientific answer for why someone believes. It’s really interesting to hear them talk. One of the great things about my job is I get to meet these people and see all different ways of life. These people really believe this. And it’s fascinating to really be open-minded to hearing what they have to say and to really, really listen. I love debating stuff like this. And I loved asking them, ‘Yeah, well, what about this though? What about that?’ And they would say, ‘There’s this answer to that and there’s this answer to that.’ So, it’s interesting and it’s great that I get to experience that.

QUESTION: After going through this process, do you feel that you’re more scientifically driven or more faith driven?

HILARY SWANK: I would say faith, just because of how my life has unfolded and how blessed I have been in my life.

QUESTION: Do you have any brushes with the supernatural yourself then?

HILARY SWANK: No. But when I went down to Louisiana you hear all these folklore kind of stories about what happens down there. And it’s like the definition of Southern hospitality. I moved into this farmhouse down there and you couldn’t really even see my neighbors, yet they found their way over to my front yard, knocking on my door, and ‘Hi, welcome to town. I made you this pecan pie. I hope you really like it. Now watch out for the ghosts.’ And I go, ‘What? What are talking about?’ They have all these stories and they really believe these stories, and here I am by myself in this farmhouse when they leave, thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, what’s going to happen? I’m thankful I have my dogs here.’ And right about two miles away was this haunted house that is one of the most famous haunted houses in the world that I think Oprah had done a piece on years earlier. And when she went there to stay the night she couldn’t even stay. She left at two in the morning, saying ‘I am out of here, this is too freaky.’ So, I didn’t ever experience a ghost. I was sleeping once and I woke up and a light was on in my kitchen. But I don’t know if left it on and forgot or if it found its way on. That’s never to be discovered.

QUESTION: So, the debunkers are never people of faith?

HILARY SWANK: I’m not saying everybody in the world who is a scientist doesn’t believe in God. There’s a magazine called the Skeptical Inquirer. They don’t believe. And there are these books of people who are my character. They go around the world debunking myths and miracles.

QUESTION: What about theories like the Big Bang Theory where some faith is required?

HILARY SWANK: Good point. That’s what you’d say. You put a lot of faith that that’s, that’s accurate. Right. There’s faith in that. I mean, that’s the great thing about this movie is that we’re asking these questions about these people who don’t believe and do believe – is there a scientific reason for everything or isn’t there? I mean, that’s the great thing. I love it that it’s making people think that. That’s the great thing about life is that there are a lot of different ways to look at it and to being open to hearing people’s beliefs is great.

QUESTION: How do you think that as a society we can overcome our fear of the unknown?

HILARY SWANK: I think it’s just being open minded. The more I live and the more I travel I’m just thankful for those experiences because I get to be more open minded to different ways of life and seeing that we’re all the same whether we eat different types of food or have a different type of religion, or believe that science is your answer. I mean, we’re all still here and we have feelings and emotions and need food and need love and I think just being open minded is really the answer.

QUESTION: How do you develop a character in a film in which the pacing is so important?

HILARY SWANK: As you rehearse and talk and develop the character there’s a richness that comes out that needs to be put on the page. But overall, when I read this script it was a real page-turner. I read it and I didn’t stop and all of a sudden it was over and I was really thinking about it. And not just afterwards. I thought about it the next day. I thought about it the next day. I just loved the concept and the idea. And I think Stephen was the perfect director for this movie. I think he’s really good with working a lot of characters and not losing the pacing, and I obviously read the script; I starred in the movie; and when I watched it I kept going, ‘Oh!’ And my friends would look at me and say, ‘What’s happening? How are you scared?’ Yet it still got me. I feel like it really did what was supposed to do.

QUESTION: How do you choose your roles?

HILARY SWANK: I just want to find roles that really challenge me and make me think – whether it opens my mind more a different way or it scares me. Can I play this character? Am I going to be able to do it? I want them to be multi-faceted. I want them to be rich in character some way. It doesn’t really matter what that is. But it was fun to do Black Dahlia and then The Reaping and then Freedom Writers and then P.S. I Love You. Completely different genres, all of them. It was great to go from one to the next to the next and to challenge myself like that and to be able to talk about these different movies. Because ultimately that’s what it is: it’s entertainment. We go to movies to be entertained, or to relate. You don’t go to learn something but sometimes we learn something new about life or look at it a little differently, and I became an actor because I love people and I love their stories and as a kid I’d watch these movies or read these books and find these characters that made me feel understood. And I just think how great to go to a movie and get lost for two hours. When people say, ‘you do movies that are more dramatic than that,’ it to me lends credit to this movie, that it is a smart, supernatural thriller. It’s not a dumbed down, by-the-numbers supernatural thriller. To me it’s really fun and it makes you think.

QUESTION: Hilary, you have accomplished things that most actors would only dream of doing. How do you remain so grounded with everything that you do?

HILARY SWANK: Thanks. Thank you for saying that. You know what it is? I love my job. I love it. I love it. And I can’t imagine doing anything else. So, because of that, I realize how lucky I am too and how blessed I am. I don’t ever take it for granted. I wake up and I’m really thankful that I get to do what I love every day. Because I know there are a lot of people who want to do it and that keeps me really, really grounded. You never know what’s going to happen tomorrow.

QUESTION: What do you do to center yourself?

HILARY SWANK: I have great friends around me and I think just not ever taking anything for granted and when the traveling is hard or the hours are hard or I’ve talked for 12 hours non-stop about something to remember that I’m talking about something I love.

QUESTION: Do you like scary movies?

HILARY SWANK: I like scary movies. I like all genres. I love movies.

QUESTION: There’s a great line in the movie that says God protects his children even though they don’t know it yet. Is there a situation that you can look back in your own life and say ‘Oh my gosh, why did that happen?’

HILARY SWANK: I’m definitely a big believer in fate, and things like when I got fired off of Beverly Hills 90210 and three months later I got Boys Don’t Cry. Had I not been fired I wouldn’t have gotten Boys Don’t Cry. But of course when I was fired I was devastated because it was my job; it was my livelihood, and I was doing what I love. But I think trusting fate is a big part of my life.

QUESTION: Do you believe in miracles?

HILARY SWANK: I think it’s all specifically how you define what a miracle is. And that’s kind of open to everyone’s own interpretation.

QUESTION: What’s the scariest movie you ever saw?

HILARY SWANK: I remember I was a big fan of scary movies as a kid. It’s something I saw all the time. I wanted to be scared. My mom said, ‘You cannot see The Exorcist. You can never see The Exorcist. The Exorcist will ruin you for life if you see The Exorcist.’ And it’s just been beat in my head that if I see it I won’t ever be able to stay alone in a room. laugh My favorite is The Shining.