The ‘Monster’s Ball’ scene Halle Berry called “the kiss of life”
Back in the 2000s, there were few actors who boasted quite a cultural pull as Halle Berry. After coming into the world’s spotlight as a model, Berry took to the acting profession in the 1990s, appearing in a number of movies, including Boomerang, The Flintstones and Bulworth, which led to an air of notoriety.
The following decade was one of sheer success for the Ohio-born actor, and before long, she had established herself as one of Hollywood’s highest-paid stars. The likes of the X-Men movies, Swordfish, and an appearance as Bond girl Jinx in Die Another Day alongside Pierce Brosnan cemented Berry’s eternal position in the icons of 2000s American cinema.
It was around that time, of course, that Berry also gave her most significant ever performance as a struggling widow in the 2001 romantic drama Monster’s Ball. Directed by Marc Foster and also starring Billy Bob Thornton, Heath Ledger, Sean Combs and Mos Def, the film focuses on Thornton’s corrections officer who starts a relationship with Berry’s character, not knowing that she is the widow of a man he helped to get executed.
Speaking with the BBC about her role in Monster’s Ball, Berry admitted that she had to tap into her most vulnerable side in order to give her best effort, one that was rightfully granted the Academy Award for ‘Best Actress’. “It was about really servicing those characters and making them as flawed and as complicated as a human being is,” Berry noted. “Marc’s request of us as actors was to be real in the moment, not be afraid of the material, and not to worry about doing the politically correct thing.”
Monster’s Ball also features an intense and graphic sex scene between Thornton and Berry, and the latter star explained that it was not just for self-gratuity’s sake, stating, “I like to call that scene the kiss of life because from that moment on the choices that these characters made indelibly affected their life and made them able to have a better one. The scene wasn’t about sexual titillation in any way.”
However, when looking back at the scene when the film was released, Berry said that she had “an out-of-body experience,” having never really looked at herself in a sexual way. After all, it’s difficult to conceive of oneself in such an intense and intimate moment, so seeing herself in the film with Thornton had an intense effect on Berry.
The actor noted: “I thought, ‘Wow, look at her!’ I never really connected it with myself, and I think that’s how I am able to look at it. The character was so far removed from who I really. It’s the first time in any movie-making experience of mine that I was able to watch a film and not be able to really see me.”
Best of all for Berry, her effort in Monster’s Ball was given the highest recognition at the Oscars that year and helped to establish her credentials as a widely respected actor. Sometimes, a brilliant movie performance can give an actor something that had never thought was possible and not only did Berry cement her position as one of the best-thought-of actors of her generation, but she also gained a newfound respect for herself, even if it did take an “out-of-body experience” to get there.
