Hilary Swank on playing Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart lived a fascinating life. And her disappearance on her attempted global circumnavigation in 1937 continues to intrigue.

Hilary Swank, famous for morphing into characters who refuse to be defined by their gender, would seem perfectly cast in Amelia as the pioneering pilot who was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. "Amelia was an extraordinary, extraordinary woman - and so ahead of her time. She made no apologies for being the strong woman that she was, or living her life the way she wanted. She was a rare human being," says Swank, earnestly.

Something of a method actor, Swank wanted to make the character as authentic as possible. That meant getting behind the controls of a real plane. "You don't play Amelia Earhart and not learn how to fly. I choose roles that are very challenging and I think she would have been upset if I hadn't learned to fly - so I had no choice.

"I had to learn to box for Million Dollar Baby - and do it properly. That's what I love about my career because it's like having a hundred different careers inside of me. I get to experience these diverse talents firsthand. It's really amazing."

Swank, 35, nails the physicality of the role with close-cropped hair, freckles and plucky disposition.

She was first approached with an Earhart movie 10 years ago but that early script didn't grab her.

However, another screenplay based on the books East to the Dawn, by Susan Butler, and The Sound of Wings, by Mary S. Lovell, and the attachment of director Mira Nair won her over.

"Hilary loves to be scared by what she doesn't know," observes Nair, who calls her "a spiritual daredevil".

The filmmaker sees a lot of aviator in the actress: "They both have this 'I want to do it because I want to do it' philosophy. They're both can-do and accessible. "As Hil became the embodiment of Amelia Earhart, it looked effortless," Nair says.

Though Swank's research was anything but.

"She wallpapered her trailer with Amelia photos," Nair recalls. "She studied the newsreels of Amelia diligently. She downloaded Amelia's radio speeches and listened to them on her iPod."

At one point Nair was overwhelmed by Swank's intense channelling of Earhart. "A little less Amelia here," the director remembers prompting.

The film co-stars Richard Gere who plays George Putnam, her eventual husband cum promoter while Ewan McGregor plays pilot and aeronautics professor, Gene Vidal who was a rival for her affections (and was the father of author Gore Vidal). Earhart entered into an open marriage with Putnam, which she once referred to as a "partnership" with "dual control".

Theories that Earhart was bisexual are also hinted at, though hardly explored, in the movie.

'I think Amelia was ahead of her time," says Swank. "But not only was Amelia ahead of her time in the 30s; if she were living in 2009, she'd be ahead of her time. And one of the qualities in Amelia that I admire so much is that she made no apologies for living her life the way she wanted."

Swank often plays women who overcome huge obstacles, and in her own life, she has made no secret of growing up in less than ideal, poverty-stricken circumstances. Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, the family moved to Washington when she was 6.

"Although I grew up in a trailer, it didn't feel like that. I never thought,' Oh poor me, I'm living in a trailer park'. I had a roof over my head and I had food," she recalls. "The negativity came from my friends' parents who would say, 'You aren't to hang out with her' [at 6 years of age]. And also not to be welcome in people's houses was a hard lesson to learn."

She feels that her rags-to-riches story hasn't changed the essence of who she is. "It taught me compassion. But I have to say, it's hard to rise above it when I see those same people who want to talk to me now that I'm famous." Her parents split when she was 13 and Swank and her mother, whom she regards as her primary inspiration, moved to Hollywood to pursue her career. During this time they lived out of her mother's car until her mother raised enough money to rent an apartment.

Swank made the transition from child to adult actor and, although she is known for her dramatic roles, her career began in sitcoms such as Growing Pains, and Evening Shade, and her first big break was The Next Karate Kid when she was 15.

Now, with two Oscars under her belt (Boys Don't Cry in 1999, Million Dollar Baby in 2004), a huge albatross is placed around her neck. "There's an enormous pressure you put on yourself to try to be bigger, or the feeling that you can't mess up now that you have these accolades. But you're going to make mistakes and you're going to make a movie that does work. When I watch Boys Don't Cry, and Million Dollar Baby, and I see the flaws. I see where I could have been better," she says. "I don't want to rest on my laurels. It's not like I can just sit back now."

Lowdown

Who: Hilary Swank
Born: July 30, 1974, in Lincoln, Nebraska
Key movies: P.S. I Love You (2007), Freedom Writers (2007), Million Dollar Baby (2004) The Core (2003), The Gift (2000), Boys Don't Cry (1999), The Next Karate Kid (1994)
What & when: Amelia opens on December 10

- Additional reporting AP