Netflix‘s movie catalog is constantly changing, and the streamer is losing a modern classic in November. Million Dollar Baby, the Clint Eastwood directed Oscar winner about a woman (Hilary Swank) determined to become a professional boxer and the grizzled coach (Eastwood) who decides to train her. The film is considered one of the greatest of Eastwood’s career, and it will, unfortunately, be leaving the streaming service on Nov. 30.
Million Dollar Baby was a critical and financial hit, earning glowing reviews from critics and audiences alike while also grossing over $216 million at the worldwide box office, a major feat for 2004. The film was nominated for seven Oscars, winning 4: Best Picture, Best Actress (Swank), Best Supporting Actor (Morgan Freeman), and Best Director.
Although Million Dollar Baby is technically a film about boxing, Eastwood explained to Katie Couric that it was ultimately a film about relationships. “She becomes his daughter, right, or his surrogate daughter,” Eastwood said. “It’s a love story, father-daughter love story. When I tried to sell the idea of making this film, everybody said, ‘Well, a boxing film, and a lady boxing film?’ I said, ‘No, no, it’s not a boxing film, it’s a love story.'”
Swank took home her second Best Actress Oscar for playing Maggie Fitzgerald, and making Million Dollar Baby was a top-to-bottom great experience for her, despite the brutal workouts. “I feel so blessed to be able to live my dream and I had that connection with Maggie. Because Maggie has a line in the movie where she says this is the only thing I ever felt good doing, and that’s how I feel,” Swank told Movieweb. “So I had that connection with her and for me, working with Clint is a dream come true and for Maggie, that relationship that she has with [his character] Frankie Dunn is so similar to my relationship with Clint. It was just a really neat parallel and I didn’t want to let Maggie go. Every day that this movie was one day gone, I was sad. And Clint of course works so quickly and your days are so short and we finished two days early. I kept joking at the end I was going to come to work not knowing my lines and come a little late just so that we could stay on longer.”
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