Trivia / Million Dollar Baby

• Career Resurrection: Morgan Freeman initially struck gold in the late 80's and early 90's with many acclaimed performances, only for his career path to hit a roadblock in 1996 with the consecutive failures of Chain Reaction and Moll Flanders. His Academy Award-winning performance in this 2004 film (along with his supporting role as God in Bruce Almighty the year prior) revitalized his career.
• Cast the Expert: Maggie's opponent in her final match was played by Lucia Rijker, a champion female boxer in Real Life.
• Cast The Runnerup: Morgan Freeman originally auditioned for the role of Frankie before being cast as Eddie.
• Dueling Movies:
  • With regards to theme: Cinderella Man, a more conventional Oscar Bait boxing flick that came out the following year, but ran out of buzz long before the awards season rolled round.
  • It was something of an upstart at the Oscars, as everyone was expecting The Aviator to be Martin Scorsese's long-awaited triumph. Milion Dollar Baby strolled in without an ounce of hype and walked away with 4 Oscars (including Best Picture).
• Fake Irish: Averted in case of Frankie Dunn: the actor does have Irish ancestry. Hilary Swank, not so much, but her character doesn't have any connection to Ireland besides the last name Fitzgerald.
• On-Set Injury: Hilary Swank contracted a bacterial infection from a blister she developed on her foot during training. The infection was so serious that she almost had to be hospitalized for three weeks. Catching the infection in the nick of time, she instead chose to take a week off for medicated rest and didn't tell anyone about the injury, because she didn't believe it was in character.
• Playing Against Type: Jay Baruchel, a Canadian actor known for playing nerds, playing a mentally disabled redneck.

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