Halle Berry backs panned ‘Catwoman’ and says she would direct a sequel
In one of her career low points, actor Halle Berry won the Golden Raspberry Award (Razzie) for ‘Worst Actress’ for her role in the 2004 comic book movie Catwoman. The Razzies are an annual awards ceremony that “honours” the worst movies of the year in conjunction with the Academy Awards.
Although the film received near-universal criticism, Berry still stands by the movie as a passable comic book adaptation and considers other such movies in recent years worse. “I loved it,” Berry claimed in a new interview. “It got panned. The critics said it sucked balls. And balls aren’t that bad.”
When Berry received her Razzie, she had just enjoyed a stratospheric peak in her career. She won the ‘Best Actress’ Academy Award in 2002 for her role in Monster’s Ball, and subsequently received praise for her role as Bond girl Jinx in Pierce Brosnan’s final movie as Agent 007, Die Another Day. Sadly, with Catwoman, her career took a sudden nosedive.
During her recent appearance on The Tonight Show, Berry continued discussing her role in Catwoman with host Jimmy Fallon. “What I’m happy about is that the children have found it now on the internet, and they love it,” she beamed. “So, it’s so vindicating. Because now they’re saying it’s cool, and what the heck was everybody’s problem with it.”
Asked whether she would ever return to Catwoman, Berry said she would only consider a sequel if she was in the director’s chair. She recently made her directional debut with the Netflix drama Bruised.
This isn’t the first time Berry has discussed directing a Catwoman sequel. “I would love to direct Catwoman,” Berry told Jake’s Takes in 2021. “If I can get ahold of that now, knowing what I know, having had this experience [in Bruised], and reimagine that world the way I reimagined this story. Bruised was written for a white Irish Catholic 25-year-old girl, and I got to reimagine it. I wish I could go back and reimagine Catwoman and redo that. Have a redo on that, now knowing what I know.”
Berry revealed one of her issues with the first Catwoman movie, which saw the titular hero opposing an evil cosmetics company. “I would have Catwoman saving the world like most male superheroes do, and not just saving women from their faces cracking off,” she added. “I would make the stakes a lot higher, and I think make it more inclusive of both men and women.”
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