Halle Berry would like another crack at Catwoman, thank you very much
The Oscar winner starred in 2004's Catwoman, among other, better movies
Aux News Halle Berry
Halle Berry is the first woman of color to win an Academy Award for Best Actress, picking up her statue in 2002 for Monster’s Ball. She also has an Emmy for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. One half of an EGOT, and she’s got her (unfortunately) Razzie-winning role in 2004’s Catwoman on the mind.
Berry appeared on the YouTube channel “Jake’s Takes” to discuss her directorial debut Bruised, which she also stars in. When asked if she could go back and direct any movie from her substantial body of work, she said she’d take another crack at the cat.
“I would love to direct Catwoman,” Berry said. “If I can get ahold of that now, knowing what I know, having had this experience, 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 [about directing].”
“I would have Catwoman saving the world like most male superheroes do, and not just saving women from their faces cracking off. I would make the stakes a lot higher, and I think make it more inclusive of both men and women.”
Berry did not direct the original film. Instead, Parisian visual effects maestro Pitof helmed the 2004 superhero movie. Since then, fellow Oscar winner Anne Hathway played the character in 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises. Zoë Kravitz dons the ears in next year’s The Batman.
Catwoman is known for a few things. First, of course, it was a massive box office bomb, returning roughly $80 million of a $100 million budget, according to The Numbers.
Berry famously won a Worst Actress Razzie for her performance, which she was a good sport enough to accept. She gave them an incredible amount of her time, appearing on stage with her Academy Award, sending up her famed Oscar speech, and telling the Razzie people that she hopes never to see them again.
Still, she doesn’t deserve to be mocked for Catwoman, which she referred to as a “piece of shit, god awful movie.” If anything, we should praise her for its basketball scene.
Bruised hits Netflix on November 17.
30 Comments
I’m just still bummed it wasn’t a Selina Kyle / Michelle Pfeiffer starring spin off from Batman Returns. I mean, the final shot is RIGHT there. and it’s my favourite Pfieffer performance, like, ever in anything.
The movie started out as that early on. But a lot changed with the project before it actually came out.
I think that was the original plan when the spin off was announced. I’m guessing Michelle didn’t want to do it, so the producers tweaked it and we ended up with what Halle was left to work with.
Yeah. No thanks.
I would have Catwoman saving the world
Then that doesn’t really sound like Catwoman to me. Not really her style.
Exactly. I’d love to see Catwoman as the Thomas Crown in a jewel heist.
Speaking of, the latest Black Cat book that Marvel’s run is the best Catwoman book in ages. It’s all heists, all the time. It rules.
My first reaction is to laugh, but you know what? Jon Cryer’s shot at Luther-related redemption worked incredibly well, so maybe this wouldn’t be bad.
I kind of love this idea. I think it’s awesome she’s getting into the directing game, and it could be a welcome addition to the trend of more women directing more female superhero films (or in this case, anti-hero).Also, I always rather admired her for showing up to accept the Razzie. Takes a certain kind of humility and grace, and it’s not something I imagine a lot of people in the industry could do.
“(or in this case, anti-hero)“
Wow, didn’t even bother to read what she said, huh?
The Razzies are kind of shitty. I love bad movies, i love talking about them, i love mocking them, and to be entirely honest, the entire world of podcasting would be nothing without them. The Razzies seems weirdly mean-spirited though, they’re less about noble failure, or funny incompetence, or the strange communal experience of observing a bad movie, and more about, like, making fun of actors for giving middling performances in films which are badly written and badly directed.
It’s also clearly, like, one guy’s weird grudge against certain actors, which sometimes manifests in bad running jokes. He sucks and the Razzies suck.
Can you believe Elvira got nominated for one? Elvira! Cassandra Peterson! Do me an absolute, god-damn favour. What a joke.
I kind of wonder why I love MST3K, but hate the Razzies, and I think you get at a lot of it. There’s a certain amount of joy the folks at MST3K get out of the terrible movies they watch, which is sometimes shown in the in-between skits. And pointing out that bad movies are bad, just isn’t that interesting. MST3K and certain bad movie podcasts don’t just it there and mention that a movie is bad for an hour and a half. They mix it up with jokes that register on different levels. Ultimately, no one is forcing these people in real life to watch bad movies. It’s your choice. So instead of bitching about it, have some fun.
Permit me a moment of pretentious loftiness. I never thought I’d say this on a post about the Razzies and Catwoman but here we are. The great, brilliant film critic Donald Ritchie once made the observation that a good film is one where we like who we are while we’re watching it. He made that comment while attempting to explain the affecting power of Bresson’s Au Hasard Balthazar, but I think it’s about the best, most inclusive definition of “good cinema” I’ve ever encountered because it sees no need for “ironic” vs “unironic”, or “highbrow vs lowbrow”. The films which are good are the ones which affect, by whatever means, a positive self-conception in the audience.
I love MST3K too. I also love, without a hint of irony, lots of films that by many objective measures are considered to be of poor quality, and which would probably be ripe for a riffing on that show. The things I enjoy are the things where I like who I am while I’m consuming them. MST3K, The Flop House, midnight screenings of The Room. These are all representative of a mode of engaging with film which is premised in joy and happiness. Let’s find a bad movie and make it good. There’s something constructive in what they do.
The Razzies gives the overall impression of being an expression of somebody’s self-loathing and shame. They’re about inexplicably celebrating the fact that somebody didn’t like who they were when watching these films.
I think it’s because the MST3K people know what it’s like to produce etc. a show on a shoe string budget and watch these films with a certain respect and even love, while the Razzies and Golden Turkey people are Hollywood professionals making fun of other Hollywood types- they are more cynical and bitter.
The Razzies only go after the most obvious and boring choices and are also really shitty about it. They are best ignored.
“I love making fun of bad movies but other people making fun of bad movies is mean-spirited.”
Cool.
Lauren Lapkus spoke about being nominated for one on her podcast Threedom last year, and the mean-spiritedness of it all. Calling out big names for giving bad performances is one thing, but less known people being nominated for their biggest role to date is just pointlessly cruel.
Despite this, Halle Berry accepting her razzie was also pretty hilarious.
I, too, often yearn to go into the past and rectify mistakes that I’ve made.But that Catwoman movie stank like the bottom of a pirate ship, and the smell has lingered.
I could go for another Halle Berry Catwoman. She wasn’t what was wrong with that movie.
No, what was wrong about it is that it wasn’t about a non-super-powered thief saving the world.
Yes please!Catwoman is a trashy-classic. so much fun watching it x
Catwoman is a lot of fun. People need to get over themselves and embrace the camp.
Just change it to ‘EGROT’ and she’s well on the way.
“I would have Catwoman saving the world like most male superheroes do”
Well, that would clearly be a GREAT movie.
I couldn’t even finish watching that clip, I felt so embarrassed for everyone involved.
Meanwhile Tim Burton is renewing his restraining order against Sean Young.What? Too soon?