Hilary Swank gets girly in 'P.S.'

Two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank goes girly girl in the rom-com P.S. I Love You.

LOS ANGELES -- From boy to boxer to girly girl?

"It's a departure from anything I've ever done," says Hilary Swank of her bittersweet rom-com, P.S. I Love You.

"Usually I'm putting on 19 pounds of muscle or passing myself off as a boy."

Both of which won her Academy Awards before the age of 30 -- for Boys Don't Cry and Million Dollar Baby, respectively.

By comparison, as a widow guided through her grief by letters penned by her lovable husband (Gerard Butler) before he died, the most that's required of Swank in P.S. I Love You is to be doe-eyed, ample-hearted and a tad dorky. Moreover, this latest transformation wasn't born out of a chameleonic desire to get under a character's skin, but out of a conversation between Swank and director Richard LaGravenese on the set of their earnest drama, Freedom Writers.

The topic? How to harness what he viewed as her own natural, ebullient energy.

"He said, 'There's this other side of you no one's ever seen,'" recalls Swank during interviews at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Which is? "She's a goofball," says Harry Connick Jr., one of her on-screen suitors.

What does Swank think of the appraisal?

"I'm definitely a goofball."

Not that that's necessarily a bad thing. After all, goofballs are more valued these days at the box office than Oscar winners and Swank's coming off two flops -- the dismal supernatural thriller The Reaping and the absurd noir The Black Dahlia.

If lighter fare is more commercial, it just so happens to coincide with a period of Swank's life when she's taking herself less seriously than ever before.

"When you're really new at it (acting) you're just afraid. You have a lot of fear you're not going to be able to do what you're supposed to ... I now realize with the help of my director and co-star and editor, hopefully you will get to where you need to be ... I have more faith in (the filmmaking process) than I ever have had. But that doesn't mean I still don't get scared."

Still, she has matured since the heady, reality-blurring Method days of Boys Don't Cry, after which, she confesses, "I never thought I would feel like a girl again."

Now, she says, she can bawl her eyes out for a scene and if the next day she feels "emotionally hung-over ... or a little down, I know I'm not going crazy."

Intrinsic to P.S. I Love You are issues of transition and rebirth. Parallels between Swank and her character, Holly, are easily drawn since the actress has emerged from her own period of personal change. In 2006, she divorced actor Chad Lowe.

Choosing her words carefully, she doesn't address her private life specifically, but speaks in broader terms.

"You just never know what's going to bring, especially in this business. I've gotten calls, 'Can you be in Japan in 24 hours?' That's the beauty of life. You become comfortable with that, trusting the unknown and knowing things don't always go the way you planned."

Next for Swank is a return toward meatier material. This month, she begins shooting the lead role in an Amelia Earhart biopic.

"There's a plethora of literature on her, so I have a lot of reading to do. I'll probably take some flight lessons. I'm really excited about it."

Excited -- and prepared for the inevitable response to the project.

"'What's with all these strong woman you play?' I can hear it now."

Rom-com flicks not always just for chicks

Can't get into P.S. I Love You for all the screaming throngs of men clambering out the door? Take heart. Here are five chick flicks guys may actually enjoy:

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

Legendary Audrey Hepburn and a pre-A-Team George Peppard star in this reverred classic about lonely-hearted loners. Dated (look for Mickey Rooney as Hepburn's Asian landlord) but endearing. We love it when a plan comes together.

Terms of Endearment (1983)

Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger star as a mother and daughter in this tear-wringer from James L. Brooks. The estrogen is diluted greatly by Jack Nicholson's roguish turn as an aging astronaut.

When Harry Met Sally (1989)

Bill Crystal insists men and women can't be friends because sex always gets in the way. Thus begins Rob Reiner's well-observed Woody Allen-esque comedy between Crystal (when he was still funny) and Meg Ryan (when she was still hot).

The Wedding Singer (1996)

It stars Adam Sandler -- which automatically makes it a guy movie -- but teams him with Drew Barrymore. Both are at their sweetest. Still Sandler's best comedy.

Love, Actually (2002)

No one makes more acute, droll and therefore effective romantic comedies than the British. Here writer-director Richard Curtis -- who penned Four Weddings and a Funeral -- crafts the Nashville of rom-coms.

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