FAQ

Yes.

More than anything in life, Mary Margaret "Maggie" Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank), a 31-year-old waitress from a poor, dysfunctional family in Missouri, wants to be a boxer. With no training and little money but a lot of determination, she hits upon aging trainer Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) to show her the ropes. At first, Frankie is unwilling ("I don't train girls"), but Maggie persists until Frankie agrees to show her a few tips and finally consents to be her trainer. In doing so, Frankie (who has been estranged from his own daughter) and Maggie (whose father died when she was young) begin to fill voids in each others' lives. Aided by his best friend, one-eyed ex-boxer Eddie "Scrap-iron" Dupris (Morgan Freeman) (who also narrates the story), Frankie lifts Maggie from a scrapper to where she is ready to take on the World Boxing Association (WBA) women's welterweight champion, Billie "The Blue Bear" (Lucia Rijker), an East German with a reputation as a dirty fighter.

Million Dollar Baby is based on various short stories entitled, Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner written by F.X. Toole, the pen name of boxing trainer Jerry Boyd [1930-2002]. The screenplay was written by Paul Haggis. Million Dollar Baby won the 2004 Academy Award for Best Motion Picture.