Halle Berry Still Has An Incredible Attitude Toward 'Catwoman'

By Andrew Sanford | Celebrity | July 22, 2024 |

By Andrew Sanford | Celebrity | July 22, 2024 |

One movie can ruin someone’s career. It can be good or bad, it doesn’t matter. A film can be received in such a way that it can demolish someone’s career. White men tend to avoid this particular pratfall, but it can happen to them too. Ocassionally! Some movies give the appearance of something that could derail someone’s hopes and dreams. They collect a social stigma of failure and toxicity. A lot of those are superhero movies. Catwoman is one of the more infamous examples.

Released in 2004, Catwoman was originally conceived as a direct sequel to Batman Returns. Tim Burton was going to direct, with Michelle Pfeiffer starring. That version of the film never came to pass. It languished in development hell for years, burning through various possible stars. Eventually, Warner Brothers cast Halle Berry in the role. The film hit theaters and was a critical and commercial bomb.

Catwoman quickly gained a reputation as one of the worst comic book films ever released (I’m sure that’s been beaten at this point). It gives off the aura of a “career killer.” Halle Berry didn’t think so. She has worn the negative reception of the film well. She hasn’t stopped working. There was no dent in how the public thinks of her. It’s arguable that, because she handled the film’s lack of success so well, she could avoid any effect on her career.

Berry is still taking Catwoman in stride. She recently spoke to Entertainment Weekly and reflected on the film’s 20th anniversary (which I realized halfway through writing this and needed to lie down for a second and regroup). The Moonfall star explained how she saw the film’s poor reception coming. “I always thought the idea of Catwoman saving women from a face cream felt a bit soft,” she told the outlet. “All the other superheroes save the world; they don’t just save women from cracked faces. I always knew that was a soft superhero plight, but at that time in my career, I didn’t have the agency I have today or belief that I could challenge that, so I went along with it.”

Again, this is not a new perspective on Berry’s part. She’s not rewriting history. Part of rolling with the punches over Catwoman involved the actress attending the Razzie Awards and giving an acceptance speech when she won. The Razzies are awful, but this is a way to put them to good use. As Berry explains, she was ready for all of this. She exists as a Black woman on the planet Earth, navigating negativity is unfortunately not new.

“I didn’t love [the backlash],” Berry told Entertainment Weekly. “Being a Black woman, I’m used to carrying negativity on my back, fighting, being a fish swimming upstream by myself. I’m used to defying stereotypes and making a way out of no way. I didn’t want to be casual about it, but I went and collected that Razzie, laughed at myself, and kept it moving. It didn’t derail me because I’ve fought as a Black woman my whole life. A little bad publicity about a movie? I didn’t love it, but it wasn’t going to stop my world or derail me from doing what I love to do.”

Berry doesn’t hate Catwoman, but she isn’t going to let the public get the last laugh. “I don’t think it’s a God-awful film, but I was at the Razzies, so I had to do what they do; I s— on it because they s— on it!” Berry recalled. “I wrote [that speech] within an inch of my life. I put a lot of thought into how I could do it in a fun way and let everyone know I didn’t take it that seriously. You can never take away my Oscar, no matter how bad you bash me! If you say I earned it, I’ll take this, too.”

Hell yeah.