‘Alaska Daily’: Hilary Swank Lied to Hide Her Pregnancy on Set
ABC‘s Alaska Daily stars Hilary Swank as Eileen Fitzgerald, a former New York journalist whose fall from grace landed her at a small newspaper in Anchorage, Alaska. And while filming the drama series, Swank revealed that she was pregnant with twins. However, the actor had to keep the news a secret at the beginning of the production.
Hilary Swank stars as Eileen Fitzgerald in ‘Alaska Daily’ on ABC
The Alaska Daily premiere introduced Eileen Fitzgerald, played by Hilary Swank, as a prestigious reporter working for a successful news source in New York. She was in the midst of breaking a story about a crooked nominee for Secretary of Defense — Raymond Green. Eileen found a source that claimed Green was selling weapons to the enemies, and she published the story.
The day after the piece went live, Eileen’s source went AWOL. Her company pulled the article from the site, and Eileen’s reputation plunged to the ground. Eileen severed ties with the news source and started writing a book about Green, who had been sworn in as the Secretary of Defense. And that’s when Stanley Cornik showed up back in her life.
Stanley was Eileen’s former boss, and he offered her to work for him again, but this time at the Daily Alaskan in Anchorage. She refused at first but later agreed when she learned about the story she would be writing. An Indigenous woman named Gloria Nanmac had been murdered a couple of years prior, and the case had never been solved.
After arriving in Alaska, Stanley partnered Eileen up with Roz Friendly, much to their demise. But after working out a few kinks in their partnership, the two are determined to bring awareness to the missing and murdered Indigenous women crisis.
Hilary Swank reveals that she lied to ‘Alaska Daily’ producers while filming
Hilary Swank appeared on The Late Late Show with James Corden in January to discuss Alaska Daily. And during the interview, the actor shared a story about how she lied to the show’s crew.
“In my first trimester, for the first 12 weeks, no one knew I was pregnant,” Swank explained. “You work 15-hour days. It’s no joke. And the first trimester, you’re so tired. My character was a jogger; that’s what she did for exercise all the time. But, to do one to two minutes on screen takes two hours. They want it from this angle, this angle. You’ll be running for two hours. I was like, ‘Oh my god. I’m pregnant. I can’t tell anybody.'”
She continued, “So I was like, ‘I’m a really bad runner. I need a stunt double to run.’ And they were like, ‘Huh? You need a stunt double to run?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah. Real bad.’ And we were in the newsroom, so they said to me, ‘Show us.’ And I was like, ‘OK. How do I look like a real bad runner? I really got to sell this, so I get my stunt double.’ But I ran, and these four men all looked at each other and went, ‘Yeah, you need a stunt double.'”
Whenever fans watch Eileen go for a jog in Alaska Daily, now they will know that it’s not actually Hilary Swank.
When does ‘Alaska Daily’ return with new episodes?
Alaska Daily Episode 6 ended with a cliffhanger when the Concerned Citizen confronted Hilary Swank’s character at the paper. He brought a gun with him, and he looked like he was not afraid to use it. Unfortunately, we won’t know what happens next in the show until February.
Alaska Daily Episode 7, “Enemy of the People,” will pick up where the fall finale left off. And based on the preview, the Concerned Citizen will hold Eileen hostage while a SWAT team surrounds the building during the upcoming hour.
Alaska Daily Episode 7 airs on Thursday, Feb. 23, at 10 p.m. ET on ABC. In the meantime, fans can watch the first six episodes on Hulu.
