Halle Berry Once Shared Playing Storm in ‘X-Men’ Was Draining Compared to Her Other Films
Halle Berry once felt filming her X-Men movies could be more challenging than some of the other films she’d done. Although it wasn’t always because of the level of acting required for the superhero projects. Rather, it was sometimes due to the lack thereof.
Halle Berry once shared how playing Storm measured up to her more dramatic roles
Berry was once synonymous with Storm for almost a decade. Fans saw her portray the powerful mutant from 2000 all the way to 2007. But within that time frame, Berry took on other, more dramatic roles to further expand her filmography. That period saw Berry doing features like Monster’s Ball and Things We Lost in the Fire.
But when comparing the two genres, Berry considered playing Storm more taxing than any of her dramas. She might’ve showcased more acting in projects such as in the Fire. But the physicality of playing the superhero was unlike anything she had to do in much smaller features. Although she acknowledged that audiences might’ve believed otherwise.
“People often think that but sometimes it’s more draining to play a role like Storm in X-Men when there’s not a lot of acting going on and you’re working against a green screen,” Berry once told BBC. “It can sometimes be very boring work at times by the nature of what that process is. But [Things We Lost in the Fire], every day was dealing with people, it was acting, it was a slice of life, it was communicating with one another all day long. It was food for the soul. So, it wasn’t as draining as one might think. Rather, it was actually inspiring to work that way.”
Why it was important for Halle Berry to play Storm
Playing Storm could be frustrating for Berry sometimes back in the day. She felt Storm wasn’t given as much to do as the other X-Men characters. This led to her insisting on a bigger role in her 2007 X-Men feature The Last Stand.
“I suffered through the two movies where die-hard fans would come up to me and say, ‘How come you let them make Storm wimp out all the time?’ As if I have any control,” Berry once said according to Superhero Hype. “Last time I asked them to let Storm do something more than drive the plane, and she drove the plane. Storm is a formidable fighter in the comic books; she has a cape and can fly. I’ve never flown anywhere in two movies except behind the wheel of that plane. I’d hate to not be part of the final film, but I won’t spend five months standing around, even though we all stand to get paid a lot of money this time.”
Still, Berry considered Storm one of the most meaningful roles she’s ever played in her career. One that she was able to relate to on a personal level given her own life experiences.
“I really loved playing Storm,” Berry told Wired. “You know, being in the world of the X-Men and mutants was always really important to me, because being a woman of color, I have often felt on the outside of things. I’ve often felt marginalized and overlooked and unseen, and that’s what the X-Men were all about. These mutants finding their voice and finding a way to be seen and appreciated for who they really were. And as a Black woman, I really related to that. So it was fun to put on the skin of Storm, to fly, and to be part of that kind of storytelling. I thought it was really important.”
