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Berry spilled some interesting tea during a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly. The 54-year-old star revealed that after making history as the first African American woman to win the Best Actress award for her stunning role in Monster’s Ball in 2002, she felt as though her career came to a halt. The Re-Spin founder couldn’t help but think that she was being overlooked by directors, which came as a shock following her groundbreaking Oscar win.
“It was surprising. Because I thought they were going to just back up the truck and drop them off at my house, right? When you have a historic win like that, you think, ‘Oh, this is going to fundamentally change,” she explained, noting that she struggled to land roles that were more times than not given to White actresses.
“It did fundamentally change me, but it didn’t change my place in the business overnight. I still had to go back to work. I still had to try to fight to make a way out of no way.”
According to Berry, the actress did not want to pigeonhole herself to just doing “award-worthy stuff” following her acting dry spell which is exactly why the star took on the role of Catwoman in 2004. Although the film was met with horrible reviews, the former Miss USA pageant runner-up confessed that the film gave her “one of the biggest paydays” in her career.
Now, Berry is getting ready to take a seat behind the camera as she’s gearing up to make her directional debut in the forthcoming film Bruised and she’s more than excited for her next big break.
“They gave me the script and I loved the story, but it was written for a twentysomething Irish Catholic white woman,” Berry recalled of her initial reaction to the film’s plot. “I couldn’t get it out of my mind, so I thought, is it possible that this could be reimagined for someone like me? Because I think I have a take on it that could actually work — making it about a middle-aged Black woman, someone fighting for a last chance rather than another chance. When you’re young we all get chances, they’re a dime a dozen. But when you’re at a certain stage in life it becomes something more impactful and meaningful, right? So about six months later when [Lively] decided in her own time that it wasn’t for her, I went to the producer, Basil Iwanyk, who I’d just done John Wick 3 with, and gave him my pitch. And he said, ‘Great, we love that idea. Now go find a director.'”
When she couldn’t find anyone else to take on the big task, Berry jumped behind the camera and did what all Black women do–she showed up and showed out! The burgeoning director also stars as the story’s lead character disgraced mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter “Jackie Justice.” The story follows the aspiring athlete’s rise to the MMA world as she endures her own personal life battles. The film had its world premiere at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival last year and is scheduled to be released on November 24, 2021, by Netflix.
You go, Halle!
