“There is magic in fighting battles beyond endurance.”
The movie is based on three short stories from Jerry Boyd’s book: Rope Burns. Anjelica Huston originally brought the book to producer Albert S. Ruddy’s attention, hoping he would let her direct the film. By the time Ruddy acquired the rights, Huston was busy on another project. Paul Haggis was directing Crash (2004) and was scheduled as the director/screenwriter for this film, when Clint Eastwood (who was to act only) asked to direct it. Haggis agreed to step aside as director. It is the 25th film Eastwood has directed, the 57th film in which he has acted, and the 21st he has produced. Sandra Bullock was the first actress considered to play Maggie Fitzgerald, but she wanted to pursue Shekhar Kapur as the director. By the time a studio expressed interest in the project, her commitment to Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005) prevented her from doing the film. Ashley Judd was also considered for the part of Maggie. Hilary Swank underwent serious training to prepare for the role, gaining nearly 20 pounds of muscle. Boxing champ Lucia Rijker, who played Billie ‘The Blue Bear’ in the film, was also Swank’s boxing coach. Originally Morgan Freeman was asked to play Eastwood’s role of Frankie Dunn, but chose to play Eddie ‘Scrap-Iron’ Dupris instead. Eastwood was the only nominee for Best Actor in 2005 to play a fictitious character. All four other nominees portrayed real people in their respective films: Leonardo DiCaprio (The Aviator), Johnny Depp (Finding Neverland), Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda) and Oscar winner Jamie Foxx (Ray).
