Halle Berry Has Mixed Feelings About Box Office Flop ‘Catwoman’ — Once Said, ‘F*ck, That’s What I Did?’
Any working actor in Hollywood likely has a few regrets. They may have agreed to do movies in the past that don’t speak to their current situations. For example, Halle Berry truly regrets one blockbuster, though it’s too late to do anything about it now.
The silver lining for Berry starring in the 2004 movie Catwoman — a true box office bomb — is that she made a lot of money for the project. However, it may not have been worth sacrificing her reputation.
Halle Berry’s friends told her ‘Catwoman’ was a bad plan
When it came time to cast Catwoman, Berry wasn’t a brand-new actor looking to make her mark in Hollywood. She had just won an Oscar for Monster’s Ball in 2002 and had her pick of projects. By that point she had also appeared in X-Men movies and as a Bond girl in Die Another Day.
The Academy Award winner was excited to portray the classic DC comic book character Catwoman. Even if her friends warned her against the decision.
“Everybody around me said, ‘Girl, don’t do it. It’s going to be the death of you. It’s going to end your career.’ But guess what I did? I followed my intuition and I did a movie called Catwoman and it bombed miserably,” Berry said, according to Glamour.
The actor regrets doing ‘Catwoman’ but also learned a lesson
Looking back, Berry thinks she would have made a different choice. “You don’t expect it to be as bad as it is sometimes,” the star told Chelsea Handler (via Vanity Fair). “Then it comes out, and you think, ‘F*ck. That’s what I did?’“
But Berry isn’t totally regretful for her choice to star in the movie. She said the experience taught her a valuable lesson. And the paycheck didn’t hurt either.
“While it failed to most people, it wasn’t a failure for me because I met so many interesting people that I wouldn’t have met otherwise, I learned two forms of martial arts and I learned not what to do.”
Financially, it was great. She continued, saying she made, “a sh*t-load of money that changed my life.”
Halle Berry sees the silver lining of her ‘Catwoman’ failure
Luckily, the X-Men alum didn’t suffer too badly in the aftermath of starring in the movie. After the spectacular failure of Catwoman, she still got plenty of offers in the industry, including future successes like John Wick: Chapter 3.
Berry maintains a healthy perspective on her bad decision. “Following your intuition doesn’t always mean you’re going to be successful or win the prize, but it means you’re always going to learn the exact lesson or get the exact accolades or the exact check that you’re supposed to get for yourself,” she said while accepting the Matrix Award from New York Women in Communication. “Never compare that to anyone else.”
Even with a flop like Catwoman under her belt, Berry is proud of the work she’s done in Hollywood. And the money doesn’t hurt either.
