by Paul Fischer
by
Paul Fischer
Halle Berry is one of Hollywood's
true glamorous stars, yet even as exquisitely beautiful 
and
famous as she is, she had to fight hard for the role of a young woman
drawn to a former racist prison warden in the powerful Monsters' Ball.
After fighting for recognition on her own terms, Berry may finally win
the day - and an Oscar nod. CrankyCritic.com's Paul Fischer spoke to Berry
about the film, stardom and her own battles with racism.
CrankyCritic: What was it about the script made you want
to go out for the part so much?
Halle Berry: It's a wonderful character for a woman to play and we don't
see them that often. When I read the movie screenplay, I was riveted. I wanted
to know what would happen to her. Things kept happening, the unthinkable, twists
and turns and I started to care about these people. I think being a woman, especially
a black woman, I can identify with her struggle against racism. Feeling the effects
of that on my life, and like most women who have had ups and downs, highs and
lows, who have struggled at certain times in my life to understand who I am, to
make ends meet, to make my way. I've certainly been there and I'm not free of
it.
CrankyCritic: Why do you think you still have to fight for good roles like
this one?
Halle Berry: I don't know why I still have to fight for roles. It certainly
keeps me working hard, that's for sure.
CrankyCritic: Why were they resisting?
Halle Berry: Why? Marc [Forster, the director] didn't want me. That's all
I know. It wasn't a personal thing. The wonderful thing about Marc is that he
had a very clear vision about this movie and the story he wanted to tell. The
vision of Leticia he had just was not me. I didn't quite fit it.
CrankyCritic: How did you convince him?
Halle Berry: I just know that I was relentless in my approach. I just wanted
a chance to sit in the room and tell him who I thought she was. My take on the
movie. How I thought I could breathe life into her. I wanted a chance to tell
him all these things that were brewing inside of me and I finally got that chance.
And then I met with him a couple of times and then the producer and then Billy
Bob until they just gave in.
CrankyCritic: Have you ever had any known or had any specific experienced
with people that allowed you to relate?
Halle Berry: Sure. Especially with the racism. That's been my way of life
since I can remember. Especially being the product of an interracial marriage,
the product of a white mother and black father, I dealt with it a lot and watched
my mother deal with it especially, having two little black kids. I also have been
called that terrible 'n' word straight to my face and not knowing what to do about
it because it was just in like 1993 (anger and disbelief in her voice) that someone
called me that. I was living in Atlanta, Georgia at the time when I was married
the first time. I didn't take the high road and deal with it internally like Leticia
did. I was ready to like, you know . . . It shocked me. Never being in the South
and living in the South. I didn't think that people still said that. But they
do.
CrankyCritic: So you know that there are still people down there who are
capable of saying the vile things that Peter Boyle's character says to yours?
Halle Berry: Not just down there. I think everywhere. There are people
who are capable of doing it everywhere. Yeah, some people still have that view
of Black people and unfortunately it's been passed down just the same disgusting
way. Haphazardly. Senselessly. Without real reason. It's just passed down like
a pair of old shoes.
CrankyCritic:
There was a lot of hullabaloo about stripping down for scenes in Swordfish.
One suspects there'll be the same kind of reaction in the love scenes in this
one, which are explicit.
Halle Berry: I'm praying that audiences will be more sophisticated than
to reduce this scene in this movie to the level of the scene in Swordfish.
I'm hoping that we are a little more sophisticated than that - but you never know.
But I'm hoping. They are clearly polar opposites. One was clearly done for shock
value and gratuitous and one is the pivotal vital part of the movie. But I think
we approached the scene like every other scene that had heavy strong subject matter.
From the abuse of the child to the use of the racial slurs, we dealt with it in
the same way. To be true to it to be honest to it. Do those uncomfortable things
that sometimes do and feel too risky to say. We just opted at every scene to go
ahead and do it. Go ahead. Say the N-word. Do it for real like how people really
do, don't make it pretty for Hollywood.
CrankyCritic: But the European version is longer?
Halle Berry: Yeah. You don't see any different angles, you just stay on
angles longer. Marc thought it should be uncomfortably long and it is even now,
but he felt it should be even longer. Because it's such a moment, when these two
characters come together. From that scene onwards you have to understand that
they are connected. They go from two people who probably couldn't stand each other
to being in love with each other. That scene is where all that is solidified,
where they are almost reborn and get what they need from each other. I think Marc
thought that you really need to see it for as long as you can.
CrankyCritic: In the notes it talks about how Marc likes to use the
silence to convey emotions. Can you talk about that?
Halle Berry: When I read the script I thought it didn't feel like an American
film. It didn't talk you to death. It didn't tell you what to feel. There were
big empty spaces for you to just feel it. Big lingering moments, which are a big
part of the movie. That's one of the hardest parts to create, because you can't
really act that. Really good actors can probably fake it and you'd believe it,
they could convince you. But to convey feelings without words you have to be feeling
what you're supposed to be feeling or feeling something else that can translate
into what the script is calling for. It requires a lot more work for the actor,
because you really have to go to some places that are hard to get to.
CrankyCritic: How did your husband reaction to the love scene? You screened
the film privately screening for him?
Halle Berry: I did. I didn't want him to see it on premiere night and have
some reporter and go, So.. (laughs) It's hard for any man to see his wife like
that but he read the script and said, 'Oh, you've got to do this. He didn't think
about the love scene then because the love scene was just words on paper. When
he saw it it was a different deal. But at the end of it he was able to say, 'I'm
really proud of you. You took a risk'. It was tough, but not tougher than when
I had to abuse my over weight son. No tougher than that. That was probably tougher
than the love scene.
CrankyCritic:
How do you work with a child that way?
Halle Berry: Through heart to heart talks with him. Kissing him and hugging
him every minute before and right after and really making an investment to him.
He's still part of my life. I felt it really important not to just dump him off.
Staying in his life. Caring about what happens to him and I genuinely do. But
it was hard because he said something really heart breaking to us. Marc and I
were talking to him, saying this is just a movie, and I kept saying, 'everything
I do and say; it's not real. I really think you're wonderful.' And he said 'Well,
whatever you do to me isn't gong to be worse than what the kids at school do to
me'.
CrankyCritic: Maybe when they see him on screen it'll be different.
Halle Berry: Well, now he's gong to be popular.
CrankyCritic: There is a lot in this movie that is hard on actors. Peter
Boyle is pretty liberal, and those scenes where he espouses strong racist views
are tough to watch.
Halle Berry: Yeah, that one in particular. That made everyone uncomfortable.
Actually, Peter Boyle is the one that came up with the split dark oak line. The
lines the writer wrote were OK, but we were really searching for something even
more. We were trying to go to what was the worst thing some one could say, and
the words written weren't coming out of Peter's mouth right for Peter. Everyone
was shocked that, he being such a liberal guy and so different from who this character
is, was able to come out with that.
CrankyCritic: Doing X2 (X-Men 2), will it be
surreal after doing a movie like this.
Halle Berry: That's the real joy of being able to do this if I can go from
one to the other. After this I can come back and do another character driven dramatic
piece or a comedy, that I haven't really done before. That's the real joy for
me. If I had to do the same thing as I'd done before or the same character, I
think I wouldn't be as happy.
CrankyCritic: What can you spill about the story?
Halle Berry: I think pretty good. They are tight lipped about the script.
All I know is that I, Storm gets a haircut.
CrankyCritic: But before that is the James Bond movie?
Halle Berry: That goes before the cameras in January. I'll be able to fit
that in before X-Men.
CrankyCritic: You get to be a bad girl in that movie, yes?
Halle Berry: Yes. I've never done that before.
CrankyCritic: There is talk of you being nominated for an Oscar which
I imagine would be the ultimate validation of your casting. Do you think about
it?
Halle Berry: Yeah, because every interview I've gone on today, they've
brought it up. That certainly wasn't why I got involved. My Oscar actually came
when I got the part, when I convinced Marc I should get it. That was such a victory
that I went out and celebrated for four days nonstop. So, anything that has come,
or that will come or that doesn't come, it's all just ... this is the big cherry.
CrankyCritic: How did you celebrate when you got the role?
Halle Berry: I went out with my friends. I have four different groups of
friends and I don't mix them because they all don't mix well. So I went with each
group and we celebrated and had champagne. They didn't really know about the movie
just that I was vying hard, that it was something I cared about, so I got to sit
down and say OK guys, here's what this is about. And they were really happy for
me.