Two times Academy Award-winning actress Hilary Swank spoke to Entertainment Weekly regarding the science fiction drama web television series, ‘Away.’ Swank, portraying Emma Green, the astronaut who is the commander of the mission, began by recalling the time she first read the script, written by Andrew Hinderaker.
“First of all, I wanted to be an astronaut before I wanted to be an actor. So I was like, ‘Wait, what? I could play an astronaut?’ I was sent the script, and then I was completely hooked not only on the fact that this commander was a female leading this mission to Mars, but that that wasn’t the drama of the story. I loved that.”
Then the actress also told of the other elements she fell in love with at the first reading the story created by Hinderaker, apart from the female-centered astronaut storyline.
“Also there are all these different races in it, and that we were all working in a place that had no borders, that we needed to become a family and trust one another to make it there. And then there’s this gravitational pull, no pun intended, to Earth and our families there and what we left behind. There’s a myriad of different things that I loved about when I read it.”
When the actress was asked about how she prepared for her role, stated that she had taken the second tier of training, the pretend astronaut training, and spoken to retired astronauts to find out information about understanding on their profession:
“We did try and see what it felt like to be in zero gravity, as well as being attached to wires, to try and figure out how to make that look effortless. I also got to go to mission control and speak to the astronauts on the International Space Station, and speak to retired astronauts as well, and just really pick their brains. They were so gracious with their time and their sharing of what it took for them to get there, and the perseverance and the fears and the hopes.”
At the end of the conversation, the ‘Freedom Writers’ star highlighted the term, “hope” and spoke of the current occasion of the world:
“And I think that’s the one really connective tissue to the story of the mission to Mars and the story of human beings on Earth, which is hope. It’s what I think we’re all redefining in our world, globally, right now, as we’re working through the coronavirus. We all hold on to hope. That’s the connective tissue within everyone. And that’s certainly the connective tissue of the show.”
The series, ‘Away’ that premiered on Netflix on September 4, 2020, is available to watch now.
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