Which 2004 sports drama directed by Clint Eastwood won Best Picture?

The 2004 sports drama directed by Clint Eastwood that won Best Picture is Million Dollar Baby. The film follows Maggie Fitzgerald, an ambitious amateur boxer who persuades veteran trainer Frankie Dunn to help develop her career.

Eastwood directed, co-produced, scored, and acted in the film as Dunn, while Hilary Swank plays Maggie and Morgan Freeman portrays Dunn’s longtime assistant, Scrap. The screenplay by Paul Haggis is based on stories from F. X. Toole’s 2000 collection Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner.

Million Dollar Baby won four Oscars at the 77th Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director for Eastwood, Best Actress for Swank, and Best Supporting Actor for Freeman. Its marketing initially suggested an uplifting boxing story, but the film’s later dramatic turn makes it substantially darker than conventional sports movies such as Cinderella Man or The Fighter.