Why Halle Berry Said ‘I Can’t Live Like This’ While Doing the Movie ‘Catwoman’
Halle Berry briefly made the jump from Marvel to DC when she famously played Catwoman in the 2004 feature. But the actor found one aspect of playing the character unbearable.
What Halle Berry couldn’t wait to stop doing after ‘Catwoman’ wrapped
Fans don’t reflect on Catwoman and Halle Berry too fondly. Many rank it as one of the worst comic book films ever produced. Berry herself even won a Golden Raspberry award for her part in the film, which she gladly accepted. But initially, Berry met the opportunity to play the Gotham antihero with enthusiasm. She didn’t even need to see a script to sign onto the project.
“Catwoman came on my radar while I made Die Another Day, which is when I was first asked. I was wildly excited. The pitch wasn’t really a story; it was just the idea of reinventing Catwoman. The studio was a big part of that; the idea was to not do what’s been done over and over but to bring something different,” Berry told Entertainment Weekly not too long ago.
The fact that Catwoman’s love interest Batman wouldn’t be involved in the franchise only heightened her anticipation for the project.
“The beauty of doing it was because it wasn’t in the Batman universe,” she said. “Men, historically, get to have big franchises that revolve around them. This was an opportunity to be forward-thinking, pushing that envelope for women. Why can’t we have our own superhero movie that revolves around us and our universe?”
As is usually the case with these superhero properties, Berry had to undergo an intense training regimen to properly embody her role.
“I knew this was going to be a huge undertaking for me and I actually started intensive fitness training with Harley Pasternak in June of 2003,” she once told Philstar Global. “I’ve always worked out and been in shape, but I needed to take it to a whole new level to meet the physical challenges of this character and create the kind of body that Catwoman ought to have.”
However, the training was the worst part of Catwoman for Berry. So much so that she asserted her fitness regimen wouldn’t last beyond the feature.
“I’m on a strict routine for this movie, and as soon as we wrap on this movie, I will be off it. I cannot live like this. Nobody should live like this,” Berry said.
Halle Berry made her ‘Catwoman’ co-star Sharon Stone go to the gym
Berry’s training allowed the actor to perform feats she wouldn’t have normally been able to do on her own.
“I have to fight in like, four-inch heels. And we’re doing this style of martial arts that’s Brazilian, so it’s all low to the ground, very influenced by gymnastics … that’s challenging,” she said.
The results of Berry’s training spoke for themselves when the actor collaborated with Stone on the project. Stone ended up playing Catwoman’s nemesis in the picture.
Halle Berry got in tremendous shape when she played the feline-inspired superhero Catwoman in the 2004 titular film. But her physique also made sure that Stone whipped herself into shape as well.
“When we were doing the movie and I saw Halle in a catsuit, I went straight to the gym. I’m not big on plastic surgery for me, but I don’t fault it for someone who wants it for them. You have to do what makes you feel good, but it’s not my thing,” Stone once told Daily Mail.
Getting into shape came in handy for Stone, who’d end up in a vicious fight with her co-star in the feature. She emphasized that the director didn’t make their fight a stylized, flashy sequence like what could be seen in other action movies. So her physicality was truly put to the test during the grueling take.
“He made it like a bar brawl, which I thought was very interesting to put these two women wild in this primal scene, which I thought made it much more exciting and much more interesting than just some hair-pulling contest or exaggerated thing. We had some fantastic stunt doubles … who taught us a lot so we could do a lot for ourselves,” she said.
