SWANKY SPACE ROLE HIL’S TOUGHEST EVER

Playing an astronaut’s put star through her paces

HILARY Swank was pushed to her limits playing an astronaut for her latest role.

Filming Netflix drama Away was so physically demanding, she wasn’t sure if she was up to it.

Hilary said: “I’ve been acting now for 29 years and it’s hard for me to find roles that challenge me to my core like this one has.

“There were some episodes where I wondered whether I was going to be able to do it physically.

“To be emotionally challenged and physically challenged, those are two very different things. It’s hard to find them both in a role.”

Tackling stunts for the series was tough for Hilary, but she refused to give up because landing the role meant she finally got to live out a childhood dream.

The two-time Oscar winner said: “When I was five years old, all I wanted to be was an astronaut.

“I come from a lower socioeconomic background where school was never really talked about as being all that important.

“A priority was placed on just trying to make it through your day.

“For a while, my top priority as a child was simply wanting a telescope. I finally got one, but it was pretty cheap and I couldn’t see much of anything when I looked through it.

“For someone who wanted to explore the planets in person, not even being able to see them through a telescope was pretty disappointing.

“So it’s such a thrill now to be touching on my childhood dream because now I have this great opportunity to really dive in and essentially scrape the surface of what it’s like to be an astronaut.”

Hilary added: “We’re clearly not going into zero-Gs and kicking up the dust of the moon or red planet.

“But I’ve been able to hear incredible stories from astronauts about their time in space and to virtually experience the idea of weightlessness with wires.”

Season one of Away will stream on Netflix from Friday.