Those who frequent Bible Study (or anyone who's watched The Prince of Egypt) are probably familiar with those 10 little inconveniences called the deadly plagues: locusts, frogs, rivers of blood and all that jazz. In The Reaping, it appears that God has decided that the citizens of Louisiana are the new Egyptians, smiting the people of a rural town with some nasty plague action. Oscar-winning actress Hilary Swank, who we chatted with last week over the phone, plays the missionary-turned-scientific-skeptic who attempts to figure out whether this is truly God's work.
After doing some serious dramas, what made you transition back to thrillers?
I'm just interested in doing all different types of genres. I don't feel like I'm going back to it. It's always been something that I've looked at and played around with. It challenges me, it mixes it up. And it's fun to do a movie like this, that's not really heavy. It's just light and fun.
What about The Reaping really caught you?
When I read it, it was a real page-turner. There were some twists and turns that I didn't see coming. And you know, it's hard to trick me - I read a lot of scripts, I see a lot of movies. There were things that were happening which made me think a lot. When I was done reading it, I just kept thinking about it. It really stuck with me.
What did you do to prepare for your role?
There's this magazine called the Skeptic Enquirer that [the director] Stephen Hopkins made me read. I actually did a lot of reading because I had never heard of these things. It was really interesting that these people believe that there's a scientific reason for everything. It's great to see a different outlook. The parts of the Bible that I read were just about the plagues.
Do you prefer the scientific explanation over faith after doing this movie?
I'm more faith-driven than skeptic-driven. It was definitely interesting to read about these people who are skeptics and their ideas of it - how they feel like that there's a scientific answer for everything. But I'm definitely more on the faith side. Part of what I love about being an actor is I get to see different ways about life.
Hurricane Katrina interrupted the film's shooting. How did the cast and crew handle the disaster?
I was really grateful to Joel Silver and the studio because we could have easily finished the shooting somewhere else, but they really wanted to stay there so that these people who lost their homes didn't also lose their jobs. It's a big budget movie, so hopefully a lot of the money went to rebuilding their state. It's a wonderful state; there's a lot of great people down there.
Which do you find more challenging: coming up with a complex human emotion while acting with people or against the blue screen with images you can't even see?
One isn't more challenging than the other, but what I love is that it's just different. On a blue screen you don't have anything to react off of what's right in front of you. It was really fun to see the locusts that weren't really there [when we were filming] and then to see them actually on the screen. It's great how film can do that.
How was working with Stephen Hopkins, who directed the first few episodes of 24?
I've been a fan of Stephen's for a long time, and yes, I became a fan of his when I saw his work on 24. He's a visually strong director, and I felt this movie really needed that. I think he has a lot of talent, and I think he did a really good job of bringing this movie to life.
Which was your favorite plague?
The locusts because it was fun to film.
