Million Dollar Baby premiered in New York City on 5 December 2004, before wider release 10 days later.
It took more 4 years for Paul Haggis to sell his script (based on one of the short stories in Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner by F.X. Toole), and then it languished, even when Clint Eastwood agreed to direct. Eastwood's longtime studio, Warner Bros., refused to put up the $30 million production budget and Eastwood was left to raise the money himself (WB ultimately agreed to put up half after Eastwood had raised the initial $15 million).
Hilary Swank trained with former Mr. World Canada Grant Roberts for the role, gaining nearly 20 pounds of muscle (Roberts has a cameo in the film as the corner-man for Billie the Blue Bear, played by world champion boxer Lucia Rijker).
Million Dollar Baby was a commercial and critical success. It received 7 Academy Award nominations, including Best Actor (Eastwood), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing (Joel Cox). It received the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director (the 74-year-old Eastwood), Best Supporting Actor (Morgan Freeman), and Hilary Swank for Best Actress.
