Halle Berry wants to direct a new Catwoman movie with Bruised under belt

Halle Berry, who is the star of one of comic’s most iconic movies ever made, wants to take another shot at Catwoman. Except this time, she also wants to sit in the director’s chair.

After her debut directorial film, this Netflix film is her second. BruisedDuring a retrospective of her career, Berry spoke out about her plans to work for Vanity Fair. From modeling in Chicago to being the first (and still only) Black woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress, Berry’s career has had fair number of high highs and ho-hum lows. Critic favorites are Introducing Dorothy Dandridge Monster’s BallThe movie is so bad that many would like to forget it all. Berry, however, confronts Berry in this interview CatwomanHer 2004 DC Comics movie, The Unexpected Death of a Comics Character.

Image: Warner Bros Pictures

“I would definitely direct the next Catwoman,”She says. “I think I would redeem myself. “I would completely change the story as a filmmaker.” The characters would be changed. I would have Catwoman saving the world from some catastrophe, like male comic book characters get to do.”

As noted in Polygon’s Bruised review, Berry’s original Catwoman, directed by Pitof, “let her kick ass, but asked barely anything of her dramatically.” The DC comic book movie cast Berry as mild-mannered Patience Phillips, who transforms into the mysterious and alluring Catwoman. Everyone seemed to be in agreement that the film had many problems, despite being rated at nine percent by Rotten Tomatoes.

Initially envisioned as a continuation of Tim Burton’s Batman movies, the first idea for a Catwoman movie saw Michelle Pfeiffer’s character temporarily leaving Gotham for a desert resort known as Oasisburg. Meant to be an adult portrayal, it stood in stark contrast to what Warner Bros. wanted out of DC Comics at the time, which was more family-friendly fare like 1995’s Batman Forever.

Pfeiffer ultimately walked away from the standalone and WB offered the role to Ashley Judd. She also passed. Berry arrived and took over the role after a failed attempt by Berry to create Jinx for James Bond. Die Another Day.

Pitof was a French visual effects supervisor who had only one film under his belt when WB hired him to lead the Berry movie. He certainly had a vision, wanting to focus heavily on the “cat” part of Catwoman. Anne Fletcher (choreographer) was invited to the film in order for Berry to act and think like a cat.

“Pitof wanted Catwoman’s physicality to be as real as possible,” Fletcher said in a 2003 interview. “He said that she’s a woman first and a cat second, but he wanted to see how cat-like a human body could become.” For research, Berry watched hours of cat footage and spent time with the movie’s animal handler.

How cat-like a human body can become is not something earnestly explored in Pitof’s Catwoman. Instead, the story focuses on how confused a single shot of Halle Berry and Benjamin Bratt playing basket basketball can be. The shots don’t feel like a ’90s music video so much as the result of someone explaining the concept of a ’90s music video to a friend in a loud restaurant, and Pitof, having overheard the conversation, going off and trying to remember the details.

Beyond direction trying way too hard, the movie didn’t leave Berry much to work with. As noted in a 2016 academic paper by Caroline Heldman, Laura Lazarus Frankel, and Jennifer Holmes on female protagonists, the movie presents Catwoman’s “agency, power, and freedom as derivative of her hypersexualization,” leaving Berry’s character “without core identity.” That isn’t too far off from what costume designer Angus Strathie, as detailed in the film’s press notes published during release, envisioned. “We wanted a very reality-based wardrobe to show the progression from demure, repressed Patience to the sensual awakening of a sexy warrior goddess,” he said.

CatwomanBerry won the Razzie award for Worst Artistress of the Year after Berry’s performance was both a commercial and critical failure. Commenting on the important of being a “good loser” in Vanity Fair, she looks back with pride on her decision to attend the event. “If I can show up to collect an Oscar when you’re honoring me, I can certainly show up to collect a Razzie when you say, good try, but do better,” she says. She set fire to her Razzie after the show.

It’s highly unlikely that Berry would continue down Pitof’s road. Her most recent roles like in, are more likely to be her last. Bruised John Wick Chapter 3 – ParabellumBetter clues are available. Berry is praised in the Vanity Fair Career Breakdown. Parabellum co-star Keanu Reeves for doing his own stunts alongside her, showing that “age is just a number.” Berry seems more invigorated by the “gritty” physicals worlds seen in John Wick and BruisedIt stands to reason, therefore, that she Catwoman Something similar would work.

While the exhaustive process of directing herself doesn’t seem to be something Berry is eager to repeat, her work with Spike Lee early in both of their careers taught her to “never say never.” Yes, Zoë Kravitz is set to play Catwoman/Selina Kyle in the upcoming DC reboot BatmanHowever, Zack Snyder may be able to get a second chance at it. Justice LeagueHalle Berry is still Catwoman.