'You better be good': Alan Ritchson had to prove himself to Hilary Swank while filming Ordinary Angels
In a Q interview, the Reacher actor shares what it was really like co-starring with a two-time Oscar winner
Alan Ritchson is widely known for playing Jack Reacher, the ex-military nomad who negotiates suspicious and dangerous situations on the hugely popular Amazon Prime series Reacher. But when he started shooting his latest film, Ordinary Angels, with Hilary Swank, he says his co-star had "no clue" who he was.
"I don't fault her," Ritchson says with a laugh in a recent interview with Q's Tom Power. "I'm 41 years old and just breaking."
Though the two-time Oscar winner was affable and polite to him, Ritchson says they hardly spoke before meeting for the first time on set.
"Don't get me wrong, she was not a diva, she was not mean," he says. "There was just this attitude of, like, 'I don't know who you are and you better be good.'"
Given how "talented and decorated" Swank is, Ritchson could easily understand where she was coming from. "If I was a two-time Oscar winner and I had some newcomer greenlighting some film, I'd be like, 'This better go well.'"
While doing their first scene together, Swank stopped after the first take and grabbed Ritchson by the shoulder.
"She said, 'I'm so glad you're doing this,'" he recalls. "'This is going to be so good for you. I can't wait to help introduce people to who you are.' And I was like, 'Oh my God, we did it. I've arrived!'"
After that, Ritchson says Swank "really opened up" and they were able to connect and have a good time.
"She's such a special person."
WATCH | Alan Ritchson's interview with Tom Power:
The full interview with Alan Ritchson is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. He talks more about Ordinary Angels, writing a letter to Tom Cruise when he booked Reacher and living with bipolar disorder. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Interview with Alan Ritchson produced by Lise Hosein