interview | HALLE BERRY - Caught in the web

Ever tried online dating? Halle Berry’s new thriller Perfect Stranger may make you think twice about meeting someone online

When producer Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas prefaced her pitch for Perfect Stranger to Halle Berry by warning her it was not a typical “Halle Berry vehicle,” Berry’s interest was immediately piqued.

Why do you consider Perfect Stranger a risky film? “Because it’s all about the acting. Actually, it was one of the most formidable acting jobs I’ve ever had. Myself, Bruce and Giovanni had to make our characters seem real or the story would have fallen apart and been a disaster. I had to lose myself in the character, and that’s not always easy. From the moment you see my face on the screen you have to believe that I’m a journalist and not Halle Berry playing one. I have to make sure people don’t even notice Halle Berry for them to really get into this movie.”

And the internet is an important element in the story? “Well, in order to find the reason her friend was murdered, she discovers that she has to go into the threatening and mysterious side of the internet — where no one really is who they say they are…. She ends up piddling around in this dark side and she realizes that the internet was really the cause of her friend’s death. But she’s sure that Bruce’s character, the ad agency owner, is the person who murdered her friend, and she tries to prove it. She sort of figures it all out bit by bit, but it gets pretty racy, dangerous and terrifying at times.”

So it’s not exactly a relaxing movie to watch. “It is the kind of film that is going to really shock people, because I was freaked out doing it. You take a big chance by tackling a role like this, but that’s what makes this job worth doing. I’m too old to be doing movies that are considered safe for my career.”

How do you feel about turning 40? “I feel good about it. I think that what doesn’t feel good about it is when everyone says, ‘Oh my God!’ Then I don’t feel so good about it. But, left to my own devices, I don’t even know what 40 is, and I don’t know what it’s supposed to mean. I just feel great and happy right now with life.”

In the past, you’ve said you might adopt a child, do you still feel that way? “Well, the funny thing is that you say something one time — you have a thought — and then it becomes like your mission. I said that because I don’t know what’s going to happen. I can tell you what I do know. I’m moving, as I move into my 40s, the desire to have something in my life that’s more meaningful than movies…is becoming really, really real.”

You’ve been married twice, would you get married again to have a baby? “Oh, God. No. It won’t come in the form of that…. I no longer have the need to be someone’s wife, and I no longer have the need to feel validated through marriage. I want kids, and as I’ve grown and evolved I now know that I’m okay by myself and it doesn’t affect my sense of self or value or self-worth. I once thought that I needed that to feel whole and good. I just don’t need that anymore.”

So you would be comfortable having a child without being married? “Yeah, and I hope that I can have a child of my own with a guy that could be the father and have a lovely committed relationship with me. Someone who would be in my life without the legal piece of paper that says, ‘Okay, if you divorce you get this and you get that.’ And you fight, fight, fight and end up hating each other. I hope that I could just walk away and say, ‘Okay. This doesn’t work anymore. Let’s just say bye.’”

Why don’t you do more dramas like Monster’s Ball? “I hear that a lot, that people want me to do more drama, but it’s not that easy. I know that things have changed for women of colour, but it’s still a struggle.”

Do you think it’s a colour issue more than a female issue? “I think that it’s hard for a woman. I mean, there are so many great actresses and there should be a lot of great parts, but those parts are really few and far between, and then being a woman of colour kind of compounds the issue. I mean, sometimes when I think that there is a great part that I want to audition for I still hear, ‘Well, Halle is great, but we don’t want this character to be black. She’s married to a guy who is white.’ And it’s like, ‘What’s wrong with that? I have a white mother and a black father.’ ‘Well, then it makes the family look funny and we have these issues. We just don’t want to deal with that.’”

Did a lot of the perceptions about you change when you won the Oscar for Monster’s Ball? “Yeah, but what you also realize is that that was a moment in time, and that moment is long past…. Do you remember who won three or four years ago even? The heat of winning wanes because every year someone else wins. So it’s what you do with that and how you use that to further your career that’s really important.”

So what’s next? “I did a really great movie with Benicio Del Toro that’s a small feeling movie that’s about relationships and people — a little slice of life. It’s called Things We Lost in the Fire. It’s a drama. It’s a little art-house type movie. It deals with some heavy issues. My character loses her husband, and she’s dealing with life without him and two little kids. Benicio is a heroin addict and their lives intersect. It’s about how these two help each other grow and become better. It’s not tied up in a pretty bow. It’s kind of messy.”

Does Catwoman still haunt you? “Since I’m no longer afraid to take risks with the roles I take, I thought Catwoman was a chance for a female heroine to helm her own movie, and hopefully become a franchise, and what great things that would do for a woman. But it missed. So you just put on your big-girl panties and deal with it. You say, ‘Okay, I’m moving on.’ But it’s about taking the risk. That’s what my career is about for me and that’s what drives me and excites me. Sometimes it’ll work and sometimes it won’t.”

Earl Dittman in an entertainment writer based in Houston, Texas.