Into the Wild Blue Yonder: Amelia

Amelia Earhart is one of the most famous people in the world. Children learn in school about the famed aviator who flew across the Atlantic Ocean and disappeared in 1937 while attempting an even more daring flight. Earhart was one of the leading figures of her time, both in the field of aviation and in the way that she took many steps forward for women everywhere. It’s in that spirit that the new film based on Earhart’s life has been made, as an ode to the legendary aviatrix who refused to be held back or defined by her gender and accomplished so much in her short documented lifetime.

The Lockheed Electra plane used in the production of "Amelia"
The production of “Amelia” intricately involved many women, starting with Earhart and her legacy. Screenings of the film were enthusiastically attended by members of the 99s, a league of 99 women pilots started in 1929 by Earhart and other female aviators of the time. Now, the organization has over 5,000 members ranging from those who have just begun flying to those who have been flying for over 60 years. Susan Larson, president of the 99s, speaks admiringly of Earhart as “the icon…that gave them the inspiration to continue in a journey that would only start as seeds” and hopes the film will lead to “a resurgence to women believing in themselves.” She looks forward to “women of the 21st century being inspired by this movie, and moving into aviation and starting a whole new wonderful career and life for themselves.” For Larson, the two women behind the film are a big reason it is so inspiring.

Larson, Swank, and Nair
Mira Nair is one of the most prominent female directors working today, with past features such as “Monsoon Wedding” and “The Namesake” on her resume. Nair isn’t dismissive about the fortune she’s had, and speaks about the question that initially motivated her to enter the field: discovering “if art could change the world.” She’s a firm believer that “cinema is such a wide-ranging, entertaining, extremely powerful vehicle” and that “the idea is to tell our own stories, like Amelia did.” Nair worked on her second film, “Mississipi Masala” in Uganda and East Africa, and “noticed over the 20 years [she’s] lived there that there is very little of Africa on screen,” stressing that “the few times we see the stories of Africa, they are hardly every made by Africans.” As a result, Nair has established a scholarship-based film school in East Africa “based on the principle that if we don't tell our own stories, no one else will” that has been open for six years. Nair compares that charge to tell your own story to Earhart, explaining that “one of the big reasons I said I wanted to make ‘Amelia’ was because she had a dream, she pursued it, and she also had an incredible grace and responsibility to the world at the same time.”

Nair and Swank admire a gift from the 99s
Star Hilary Swank has plenty to say in praise of her director. “Mira being at the helm of this ship was such a perfect match because I think it's rare to see a woman carrying herself in the way in which [she does],” Swank says, adding that Mira “makes no apologies for her strengths.” Swank deeply admires Earhart, underlining the fact that she was “so supportive of other women when women aren't always supportive of another woman's strengths.” Swank believes that “powerful women are supportive of the underdog woman or the women suffering from inequality, yet when it's another woman's strength, they find it hard to muster up a lot of accolades.” The two-time Oscar-winning actress (“Boys Don’t Cry” and “Million Dollar Baby”) is no stranger to praise for her work, but she is still extraordinarily humble about her craft. While she admits that she wasn’t always longing to play Earhart, she does “long to play roles that challenge [her] and scare [her] and make [her] learn new things about the world, about [herself], about [her] art.” One of the things that attracted Swank to Earhart was “Amelia's way of going about her life, the way in which she carried herself and the way she expressed herself.” Swank is convinced that “it's really challenging to be that honest” and looks up to Earhart for living her life in a manner that was “very honest and very open.”

Swank as Earhart
Swank has been moved by how “people, more than any of [her] movies, have come up to [her] and said, “I cannot wait to see ‘Amelia.’” She isn’t surprised by the enthusiasm and excitement women have for the movie, but she was caught off guard by the fact that men seem to be anticipating the film just as much. She thinks that “what people are kind of magnetized to is the idea that this person, Amelia, who lived her life the way she wanted to live it made no apologies for saying, ‘This is my life. And this is how I see it. And this is how I want it to be done.’” With the strength of an acclaimed actress, a powerful female director and over 5,000 female pilots behind her, Amelia Earhart is still relevant more than seventy years after her disappearance, and her story and her accomplishments continue to inspire many to this day. “Amelia” opened nationwide on Friday, October 23, 2009.