Clint Eastwood really did a number on his audience with Million Dollar Baby. The sports drama is unforgettable in more ways than one, especially thanks to the gut-wrenching ending where his character, Frankie, puts daughter-like Maggie to rest for good, despite his fatherly affection for her. As he injects a fatal injection into her, the audience’s happiness dies along with Maggie. Honestly, there is just something about Clint Eastwood when it comes to creating movies.
Despite his proven record and a ground-shattering idea, Warner Bros. was just not interested in financing a boxing movie. When they finally agreed, most of their interest was in other films including Tom Hanks’ Polar Express. Clint Eastwood soon realized that it was up to him and his team to determine Million Dollar Baby’s fate.
Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby and Warner Bros.
Clint Eastwood was on good terms with Warner Bros. when he pitched Million Dollar Baby to them. Still, the studio didn’t deem it worth their while and money to back a film about boxing. Eastwood had to come up with something as soon as possible.
He finally got Lakeshore Entertainment to finance half the film, and WB agreed to finance the remaining. Despite two large production companies behind his film, he had much less financial backing as compared to Tom Hanks‘ Polar Express and Robert Zemeckis‘ Alexander, both of which had a budget upward of $150 million. Eastwood’s film on the other hand had a minimal budget of $30 million.
Talking to critic Roger Ebert, Eastwood stated that he didn’t care about publicity when it came to Million Dollar Baby, he simply only wanted to make the film. Talking about the budget, he stated that since his film couldn’t compare with the other two, he knew his film would have to live and die on its own terms.
I just wanted to make it. I don’t want publicists hanging about. We stayed under the radar. With all the big $150, $200 million films out there, they thought this film was at a different importance level. I had about $25 million to make it with. They had their ‘Alexanders’ and ‘Polar Expresses’ they were working on, and I figured my movie was going to have to live or die on its own terms.
Luckily, the film lived. WB would soon realize that they were overlooking a diamond while they focused on the gold.
Warner Bros. Stood Corrected
Since the film had a low budget, the studio’s interference was way too minimal. Meaning, that Eastwood and his team were free to do as they wished with the project. When they finally showed the finished product to WB, it was almost like their eyeballs turned into green dollar signs.
The man responsible for the distribution of the film was filled with enthusiasm almost instantly and came up with ways to market it to the world. However, Eastwood declined his offer and decided to let his work speak for himself.
He told Ebert,
We went and made it, they didn’t know anything about it, and after we showed it to them, they said, ‘Jesus, it’s not too bad.’ Some people in the organization started getting enthusiastic. Eddie Feldman, the distribution guy, says, ‘How shall we open it?’ ‘Why don’t we just put it out sometime after Thanksgiving,’ I said. He said we had to mount a campaign. ‘No mounting a campaign, no mounting anything,’ I said. ‘Just see where it goes.’
When the film was released, it was welcomed with open arms by both critics and fans. It went on to make over $230 million at the box office and received a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 90%. Million Dollar Baby was also heavily decorated at the 2005 Academy Awards as it won 4 out of the 7 it was nominated for. This included one for Eastwood’s direction and Hilary Swank for Best Actress. Morgan Freeman also lifted the Best Supporting Actor trophy.