Hilary Swank Changed Her Mind About Doing ‘Something Borrowed’ After Reading the Script
Actor Hilary Swank considered starring in the 2011 Kate Hudson comedy Something Borrowed. But this changed after she read the film’s screenplay.
Hilary Swank produced the 2011 rom-com ‘Something Borrowed’
Swank is known and highly regarded as one of Hollywood’s top actor. But she’s also been making her mark in the film industry as a producer as well. It’s a position that Swank enjoys since producing has offered more control over films than being an actor.
“As an actor solely, you can have input, but in the final cut it might not make it. But certainly as a producer you not only have the ability to help craft the story that you are telling, but you get to choose the artisans whom you collaborate with. So it’s going to make a huge difference for sure. Having that ability to find the stories that you want to tell is wonderful,” Swank said in an interview with The Talks.
One of those stories she wanted to tell was Something Borrowed. The movie, which starred Kate Hudson and Ginnifer Goodwin, was a romantic comedy based on a book of the same name. Produced by Swank, the actor believed the film delivered something unique to the rom-com genre.
“For me, I think and I hope that audiences take away that this is something [that’s] fresh and new. I don’t think it’s your typical romantic comedy. It’s more of a dramedy of sorts,” she once told Fandom.
Hilary Swank backed out of starring in ‘Something Borrowed’ after reading the script
Although the movie was led by Goodwin and Hudson, Swank strongly considered casting herself in the lead. After reading the book the film was based on, she thought she might have wanted to be a part of the on-screen narrative.
“Reading the book, I thought, ‘Is this going to be something that I’m going to want to be in?’ We didn’t start a production company just for vehicles for me to act in. We just want to be able to tell great stories that we love and that move us,” she told Collider in a 2011 interview.
Ultimately, after getting the Something Borrowed script, she thought it best to give the lead role to someone else.
“When the first draft of the screenplay came in, I just didn’t see myself in the role. That happens. I get offered scripts and I see somebody else in it, and that’s what happened here,” Swank explained.
Kate Hudson wasn’t sure she wanted to star in ‘Something Borrowed’
Hudson was another actor who was hesitant to do the movie. She was once known for her lighthearted romantic comedies like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Because of this, she wasn’t sure she wanted to add Something Borrowed to her filmography given its genre.
“Kate was like, ‘I don’t know if I want to do another romantic comedy,’ before she even read it, and we were like, ‘Just read this. It’s different,'” Swank recalled.
Reading the script was enough to bring Hudson on board for the film.
“Being an actor myself, I know that you can be pigeonholed. I think Kate is a great dramatic actress, and I think she’s a comedic actress. I don’t think she gets as much opportunity to do drama as she does comedy, but I think she has the chops to do both,” Swank explained.
Since Swank felt the film was more of a dramedy than a comedy, it seemed Hudson might have been perfect to strike that balance.
