Actress Hilary Swank reflected on Boys Don’t Cry in a recent interview with The Times of London. Deadline collected some of these comments. Swank revealed that she would have been hesitant to join the film today due to its queer storyline.

Swank won an Oscar for Boys Don’t Cry, a film that told the real-life story of Brandon Teena, a transgender man who was hate crimed and murdered. “Now for the most part, in most places, it’s accepted to be a trans person. [But] at that time, people weren’t even coming out as gay and lesbian, it was a career killer, or whatever. They weren’t ready to tell their family, or maybe they weren’t even ready to tell themselves,” Swank pondered. She is not sure if she would have taken the role today. “We’re in such different times — I feel like it would be a great opportunity for an actor who’s trans to play that role.”

While she believes that this role might have been better suited for a transgender actor, Swank still believes in the inherent flexibility of actors as artists. “But I also feel like actors are actors. We are supposed to play different people and I would like to hope trans people are getting the opportunity to play non-trans people as well.” 

Still, Swank is still honored to have been part of such an important film. Telling Teena’s story on film helped raise awareness. “It was a jumping-off board to start a conversation that was needed, and we need this conversation to continue until everyone’s leading a safe life.”