Freedom Writers is a 2007 American film starring Hilary Swank, Scott Glenn, Imelda Staunton and Patrick Dempsey. It is based on the book The Freedom Writers Diary by teacher Erin Gruwell. The title is a play on both the terms of "Freedom Riders", the black and white civil rights activists who tested the U.S. Supreme Court decision ordering the desegregation of interstate buses in 1961, and Freedom Fighters, as in somebody who fights for freedom.
Early prints were released under the title 'Maggie'.
At the hotel dinner for the kids, after their trip to the Holocaust museum, all of the Holocaust survivor characters are played by actual Holocaust survivors.
Hilary Swank beat out her co-star in this movie, Imelda Staunton, for the 2005 Oscar for Best Actress.
This is the second time that Hilary Swank and Patrick Dempsey have been together in a film; the first was for Iron-Jawed Angels.
The Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles is featured in the film. Gruwell takes the students on a field trip to the museum. An exterior view of the museum is shown, and there are scenes inside the museum, showing simulated entrances to gas chambers in death camps.
Part of the movie was filmed at Hamilton High School in Los Angeles.
Based on the book called "The Freedom Writers Diary" by Erin Gruwell and the kids of Wilson High.
Vanetta Smith, who played the student Brandy, was on the show Endurance (TV Series) in its third season. Her team placed 5th out of 8.
