Voice Lessons
Hilary Swank Aces Another Accent for Her Role in Conviction
A decade ago, it made headlines; Friday, it hits movie screens. Conviction tells the true story of a single mom who went to college and then earned a law degree in order to get her wrongfully convicted brother out of jail. With two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank in the title role, it's not too much of a stretch to imagine Tony Goldwyn's film scoring a favorable decision or two come Oscar season.
"I was compelled by the beauty and the tenacity and the grace and selflessness of this woman," Swank explained before last night's Laura Mercier-sponsored screening at the Tribeca Grand Hotel. (She later swung by the Soho Grand's new Club Room for the after-party.) Like her character, Betty Anne Waters, Swank was serious about doing her homework. "The roles that I get the opportunity to play are the hardest I dig into anything," she said, and Waters backed her up. "She sent her dialect coach to my house and taped me for two hours, and she listened to that forever," she recounted in a thick New England accent. "And I know that because on-set she jumped into a van with my family one night and she started talking—and my niece and nephew thought it was me!"
Much of the audience (which included Nicole Miller, Paul Haggis, and Courtney Love) was sniffling audibly as the end credits rolled; Waters' brother, played in the film by Sam Rockwell, passed away not long after she helped to secure his release. "He was an unlucky guy," Rockwell conceded. "But he died a free man, and he had a great six months. He was on Oprah."
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