Halle Berry Has No Regrets About Her 2004 Movie ‘Catwoman’
Halle Berry is known for her lead role in portraying the character of Catwoman in the 2004 comic book movie, Catwoman. Berry starred as Patience Phillips, a graphics designer who is murdered by the owner of the cosmetics company she works for to cover up their evil deeds. In a twist of events, she’s brought back to life by a magical cat and gains superhuman abilities. The movie earned many negative reviews and deemed one of the “Worst Pictures,” but Berry tells in a new interview that it was her biggest payday, and she has no regrets.
Patience Phillips becomes a vigilante overnight
The 2004 movie revolved around Patience Phillips, a graphic designer at a cosmetics company called Hedare Beauty. Patience finds herself trying to deliver the design for a new face cream to the company’s R&D laboratory facility and overhears the damaging long-term effects of the new product. She gets caught and murdered but brought back to life by a magical Egyptian Mau cat.
Given a new chance at life, Patience uses her new courage and superhero abilities to become a vigilante named Catwoman. In the cover of darkness, Patience looks for answers on who murdered her and why. The viewers heavily criticized Berry’s performance in the movie and the development of the character’s story.
Halle Berry has no regrets about the movie
The movie only grossed $82.1 million in the box office compared to its $100 million budget, and critics were not too happy with the over-sexualization of Catwoman. According to Screen Rant, Halle Berry said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that she has no regrets about having taken part in the production.
Berry explains, “For me, it was one of the biggest paydays of my whole life, which, there’s nothing wrong with that…. I don’t want to feel like ‘Oh, I can only do award-worthy stuff.’ What is an award-worthy performance?” The movie’s backlash did not stop Berry from continuing her career and taking on roles in X-Men, John Wick, and Bruised.
Halle Berry was not the only Catwoman
Before Berry became synonymous with the Catwoman role, fans were already introduced to the leather whip-wielding character. The character was first introduced on-screen in 1966 in the Batman television series with Julie Newmar in the role. In 1992, Michelle Pfeiffer played the role in Batman Returns, starring Michael Keaton as Batman. This version of Catwoman had a similar origin story to Berry’s rendition.
Selina Kyle (Pfeiffer) is a mousey secretary who has suffered long enough under corrupt tycoon Max Shreck (Christopher Walken). Similarly, Selina uncovers his heinous plot and is murdered to be later saved by alley cats. She soon becomes Catwoman and vows vengeance against Shreck, and captures the attention of Batman.
Unlike Berry’s version, Pfeiffer’s Catwoman is described as an anti-hero and veering more toward being a villain. Pfeiffer’s portrayal is considered one of her best in her career and a pop culture icon amongst comic book and movie fans.
