ARTICLES AND INTERVIEWS: 1. Production Information Fresh–faced, idealistic twenty–three–year–old Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank) is ready to take on the world as she steps inside Wilson High School for her first day of teaching. 2. ABOUT THE FILM Hilary Swank takes on the role of Erin Gruwell. “True stories resonate with me,” says Swank, “I was inspired by the screenplay and moved by its humanity. I felt in my heart and soul that I needed to be a part of telling this story. When I found out that I was Erin’s first choice to bring her story to the screen, I thought it would be an honor to do so.” 3. INSIDE ROOM 203 In post–Rodney King riots Long Beach, Wilson High School seemed like a perfect stage to test the legitimacy and ideals of integration. Located in a predominantly wealthy area, the kids assigned to Room 203 were generally classified as the 'unteachables'. 4. ABOUT THE STORY After reading about Erin Gruwell and The Freedom Writers in a small piece published in the Los Angeles Times, Primetime Live news producer Tracey Durning was curious enough to take a trip to Long Beach to learn more about this teacher and her eclectic group of students. 5. BECOMING FREEDOM WRITERS In an attempt to maintain optimum realism and authenticity, writer/director Richard LaGravenese used materials gathered from his extensive research and interviews with the original Freedom Writers to develop the characters within the film.

Two–time Academy Award® winner Hilary Swank takes on the role of Erin Gruwell. “True stories resonate with me,” says Swank, who won her first Academy Award® for her portrayal of Brandon Teena in the true–life story “Boys Don’t Cry.” “I was inspired by the screenplay and moved by its humanity. I felt in my heart and soul that I needed to be a part of telling this story. When I found out that I was Erin’s first choice to bring her story to the screen, I thought it would be an honor to do so.”

“I poured out my heart in an e–mail to Erin,” Swank continues. “After I read the script, I wanted to meet her, talk to her, and tell her how important I thought her story was.”

“I felt that in some way teaching was the most noble thing that I could do in our own country, working with kids who oftentimes don’t have the best teachers, supplies or the best schools,” says Gruwell. “I really wanted a school that had diversity, that had been affected by the riots and could be this wonderful eclectic mix of races and economics and cultures. On paper, Wilson seemed to be perfect because it was this fusion of affluent kids and abject poverty, and included every ethnicity under the sun with kids who could be headed off to Harvard or off to jail.”

After a tragedy shook the student body, Gruwell searched for a way to address the issues in her students’ lives. Assigning them The Diary of Anne Frank, she found that many students were able to identify with Anne’s challenges growing up in a warzone.

It was Gruwell’s next assignment that would profoundly change her students’ lives: she asked them to keep a journal, recording their experiences, their emotions, their challenges, and their triumphs. “The kids learned to pick up a pen instead of a gun, and the act of writing saved them,” explains director Richard LaGravenese. “Erin asked them to write about their wars and battles and it opened the gates for them to share their lives, which no one had ever asked them to do before. Through Anne Frank, she opened their eyes to a thirteen–year–old girl going through a war of her own and how writing helped her cope with her situation – and then, Erin showed them how to apply that to their own lives.”

The film is produced by Stacey Sher, Michael Shamberg, and Danny DeVito, who previously produced “Erin Brockovich,” which was an Academy Award® nominee for Best Picture. “One of the things that drew us to making this film was the notion that one person really can make a difference,” explains producer Stacey Sher. “Erin Gruwell is a hero like anybody else can be a hero. She was frightened but saw that something had to be done and couldn’t turn her back on these kids. She empowered them with the tools to essentially help themselves.”

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INSIDE ROOM 203
In post–Rodney King riots Long Beach, Wilson High School seemed like a perfect stage to test the legitimacy and ideals of integration. Located in a predominantly wealthy area, the kids assigned to Room 203 were generally classified as the 'unteachables'.