CNN - 'Boys Don't Cry' filmmaker saw past violence to love - October 22, 1999

Says filmmaker Kimberly Peirce, "Here was a girl living in a trailer park, she didn't have much money, she didn't have any role models, and she successfully transformed herself into a fantasy of a boy. That was completely compelling and extraordinary to me -- the courage to carry it out and then the cleverness to keep the fantasy alive."

"I was looking all over the country, but there was no girl who could play Brandon," says Peirce. Then a videotape arrived in the mail.

"Finally," she says, "we popped in the tape, and this beautiful, androgynous person just floated across the screen, cowboy hat on, big sock in his pants, gorgeous boy jaw, boy voice, boy ears, boy eyes, boy forehead. It was stunning."

It was Swank, whose previous work had included television experience, as well as feature films like "The Next Karate Kid" (1994) and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1992). Peirce, in allegiance to her obsession with the subject, hired Swank but demanded that she live as a guy for four weeks prior to filming -- go to the store, the restaurant, the bathroom, dressed and acting like a guy.



...also Sevigny:
"Chloë will never give you a false moment," says Peirce. "She is endlessly gifted.