Halle Berry Covers Women In Hollywood Issue Of 'Elle'

Trailblazer Halle Berry, who is still the only black Best Actress winner, is one of the nine stars featured on the November issue of Elle magazine, celebrating the honorees for this year's Women In Hollywood event, which will take place tomorrow (10/19).

When Halle Berry first read the script of her most recent film, Bruised—which she directs and stars in—she knew it wasn’t going to work for her. The Netflix movie, about a troubled mixed martial arts fighter who tries to get back into the sport when she regains custody of her son, was clearly written for an actress who could play an Irish Catholic woman in her early twenties. Berry was drawn to the intensely physical and emotional story, and identified with the motherhood subplot, but she recognized that the lead role would have to be reworked if a Black woman in her fifties was going to play her—even if it was a Black woman who has looked ageless for her entire career.

Another actress was considering the project, and Berry’s agent told her to wait to see if the film came to her instead. “I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and I became obsessed,” Berry says. When the other actress eventually passed, Berry was ready. “I was then able to make my pitch for how I could reimagine it for someone like me,” Berry says. She helped rework the screenplay, and after meeting with several potential directors, she realized that she might be the best person for that job, too. The resulting film is harrowing and deeply affecting, with Berry again doing what she does best: showing us a complicated Black woman in a way we haven’t seen before onscreen.

Bruised shows Berry doing what she does best: portraying a complicated Black woman in a new way. But this time around, she’s also behind the camera.

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'Bruised' Q&A: Halle Berry Talks Directorial Debut With Netflix

On the hees of the trailer for 'Bruised', Academy Award-winner Halle Berry sat down with Netfix Film to discuss what drew her to the role of Jackie Justice and her journey to directing.

'Bruised' Trailer: Halle Berry Fights For Redemption

Netflix has unveiled the official trailer for 'Bruised', the first feature directed by Academy Award winner Halle Berry, which will be released in select theaters on November 17th and to the streamer on November 24th.

In the film, a disgraced MMA fighter (Berry) finds redemption in the cage and the courage to face her demons when the son she had given up as an infant unexpectedly reenters her life.

Halle Berry To Receive Career Achievement From Critics Choice

DEADLINE: Jennifer Hudson, Halle Berry, Barry Jenkins and Anthony Anderson are among this year’s honorees for the Critics Choice Association’s Celebration of Black Cinema & Television. Inaugurated in 2014, the annual event has honored standout achievements in Black filmmaking, and this year will be the first to incorporate excellence in television as well. It will take place on Monday, December 6, at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel and will feature 20 award categories.

Academy Award-winning actress Berry will receive the Career Achievement Award as a tribute to her extraordinary roles over the years, as well as her upcoming directorial debut Bruised, in which she also stars as the disgraced MMA fighter Jackie Justice. It opens November 17 in theaters and hits Netflix on November 24. Berry’s career has spanned three decades, including performances in Die Another Day, Jungle Fever, Losing Isaiah, Bulworth, Swordfish, John Wick and as legendary actress in Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, for which she won an Emmy. She is the first and only Black woman to win the Best Actress Oscar, for her performance in Monster’s Ball in 2002.

“Berry’s iconic performances throughout her career have showcased her brilliance as an actor and blazed the trail for Black performers who have come after her,” said Shawn Edwards, a CCA board member and executive producer of Celebration of Black Cinema & Television. “She has become the personification of excellence as she transitions from being in front of the camera to sitting in the director’s chair.”

Halle Berry Stuns At Star-Studded Academy Museum Opening

Academy Award winner Halle Berry was among the guests who came to the Academy Museum opening-night gala, a celebration designed both to honor actress Sophia Loren and Ethiopian filmmaker Haile Gerima and to show off the long-in-the-works museum, which opens to the public in Los Angeles on September 30th.

The actress was joined by her musician beau Van Hunt for the special occasion.

Halle Berry's 'Bruised' To World Premiere At AFI Fest

AFI Fest: Today, the American Film Institute (AFI) announced that AFI FEST 2021 will include the World Premieres of Academy Award® winner Halle Berry’s directorial debut BRUISED from Netflix and Academy Award® winner Benjamin Cleary’s feature directorial debut SWAN SONG from Apple Original Films. Both World Premieres will screen in-person at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre on Saturday, November 13 and Friday, November 12, respectively.

BRUISED stars Berry as a washed-up MMA fighter who struggles for redemption as both an athlete and a mother. SWAN SONG stars two-time Oscar® winner Mahershala Ali as a man diagnosed with a terminal illness who is presented with an alternative solution by his doctor, portrayed by eight-time Oscar® nominee Glenn Close, to shield his family from grief. The film also stars Oscar® nominee Naomie Harris, BAFTA Award nominee Awkwafina and Adam Beach.

“Now more than ever it is important to lift up and shine a light on new voices and new stories that inspire empathy,” said Sarah Harris, Director of Programming at AFI Festivals. “Halle Berry and Benjamin Cleary are vital artists whose visions we are proud to celebrate at AFI FEST.”

The films join the previously announced titles which include Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award® winner Lin-Manuel Miranda’s tick, tick…BOOM! and Reinaldo Marcus Green’s KING RICHARD starring Will Smith. AFI FEST 2021 takes place from November 10–14 in Los Angeles. Tickets and passes will be available soon on FEST.AFI.com.

ABOUT THE FILMS
Jackie Justice (Halle Berry) is a mixed martial arts fighter who leaves the sport in disgrace. Down on her luck and simmering with rage and regret years after her fight, she’s coaxed into a brutal underground fight by her manager and boyfriend Desi (Adan Canto) and grabs the attention of a fight league promoter (Shamier Anderson) who promises Jackie a life back in the octagon. But the road to redemption becomes unexpectedly personal when Manny (Danny Boyd, Jr.), the son she gave up as an infant, shows up at her doorstep.

The film marks the directorial debut of Academy Award® winner Halle Berry and also stars Adriane Lenox, Sheila Atim, Valentina Shevchenko and Stephen McKinley Henderson in a triumphant story of a fighter who reclaims her power, in and out of the ring, when everyone has counted her out. The film is helmed by Berry from an original screenplay written by Michelle Rosenfarb, and produced by Thunder Road Pictures, Entertainment 360 and Romulus Entertainment. BRUISED will air on Netflix on November 24.

SWAN SONG is set in the near future and told through the eyes of Cameron (two-time Academy Award® winner Mahershala Ali), a loving husband and father diagnosed with a terminal illness who is presented with an alternative solution by his doctor (eight-time Academy Award® nominee Glenn Close) to shield his family from grief. As Cam grapples with whether or not to alter his family’s fate, he learns more about life and love than he ever imagined. Academy Award® nominee Naomie Harris, BAFTA winner Awkwafina and Adam Beach also star in the ensemble cast. The film is helmed by Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Benjamin Cleary (STUTTERER), from an original screenplay written by Cleary and produced by Anonymous Content and Concordia Studio. Producers are Adam Shulman (DEFENDING JACOB) and Jacob Perlin (THE AMAZING JOHNATHAN DOCUMENTARY) on behalf of Anonymous Content; Jonathan King (STILLWATER, DARK WATERS) on behalf of Concordia Studio; Rebecca Bourke (WAVE); Mahershala Ali and Mimi Valdés (HIDDEN FIGURES) through Know Wonder. SWAN SONG will be released in select theaters and premiere globally on Apple TV+ on December 17.