Boys Don't Cry

Boys Don't Cry (1999)

Timing: 1:58 (118 min)

7.408/10
1435

7.388/10
24472

7.5/10
107000

All about film

Video 3

Photo 27

Actors and characters

Release date

1999-09-02

Country

United States

Production

Fox Searchlight Pictures, Killer Films, Hart-Sharp Entertainment, IFC Productions, IFC Films, The Independent Film Channel Productions

Genre

Crime, Drama

Budget

$2 000 000

Revenue

$11 540 607

Website

https://www.searchlightpictures.com/boysdontcry

Director

Kimberly Peirce

Actors

Hilary Swank, Chloë Sevigny, Peter Sarsgaard, Brendan Sexton III, Alicia Goranson, Alison Folland, Jeannetta Arnette, Rob Campbell, Matt McGrath, Cheyenne Rushing
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Kimberly Peirce, Andy Bienen

Producer

John N. Hart, Eva Kolodner, Christine Vachon, Jeffrey Sharp, John Sloss, Jonathan Sehring, Caroline Kaplan, Pamela Koffler

Operator

Jim Denault

Composer

Nathan Larson

Artist

Audition

Suzanne Crowley, Billy Hopkins, Kerry Barden

Editing

Tracy Granger, Lee Percy
All team (37)

• The real Lana Tisdel, the namesake of the character played by Chloë Sevigny in the film, filed a lawsuit against FOX for the unauthorized use of her name in the movie. The film company settled the claim, but the amount of the settlement was not disclosed.
• To prepare for the role, Hilary Swank lived as a man for a month. This included tightly binding her chest with bandages and stuffing socks down her pants, as Brandon Teena (1972-1993, an American transgender man who gained notoriety as a victim of a hate crime) did. Neighbors thought the guy who visited her (who was Swank in disguise) was her brother.
• Hilary Swank landed the lead role after the film's creators reviewed and rejected hundreds of other actresses over three years. She told director Kimberly Peirce that, like Brandon, she was 21 years old and originally from Lincoln, Nebraska. When Peirce later caught her in a lie, the actress stated that Brandon would have done the same thing in her place.
• Hilary Swank's fee was around $3,000, so small that she couldn't even afford health insurance.