Halle Berry went down in the history books in Hollywood for becoming the first ever black woman to win an Oscar. This did not seem possible when she started out her career although she was an eye catching star when people first saw her on the big screen.
Halle Berry who is now 54, in the year 2002 became an Academy Award winning best actress for the film “Monster’s Ball”. The accomplishment would be the first for her and black woman. The event came with pure joy, but unfortunately another woman of color has not reached this accolade since.
In an interview with Variety, the legendary Halle Berry let her thoughts be known about this scenario. “I think it’s largely because there was no place for someone like me,” Berry said. “I thought, ‘Oh, all these great scripts are going to come my way; these great directors are going to be banging on my door.’ It didn’t happen. It actually got a little harder. They call it the Oscar curse. You’re expected to turn in award-worthy performances.”
Berry revealed who she recently believed would take the award, “I thought Cynthia [Erivo, the star of ‘Harriet’] was going to do it last year. I thought Ruth [Negga, nominated for 2016’s ‘Loving’] had a really good shot at it too,” she reflected. “I thought there were women that rightfully, arguably, could have, should have. I hoped they would have, but why it hasn’t gone that way, I don’t have the answer.”
It has left Berry wondering just how much does her win really mean in the long run of the advancement of social equality in Hollywood.
“It’s one of my biggest heartbreaks,” she admitted. “The morning after, I thought, ‘Wow, I was chosen to open a door.’ And then, to have no one … I question, ‘Was that an important moment, or was it just an important moment for me?’ I wanted to believe it was so much bigger than me. It felt so much bigger than me, mainly because I knew others should have been there before me and they weren’t.”
The actress hit a high with the “Monster’s Ball” role, but dropped low with the movie “Catwoman” which got her a Razzie Award for worst actress. The picture received three other Razzie wins and three more nominations.
“I thought, ‘This is a great chance for a woman of color to be a superhero. Why wouldn’t I try this?” she remembered.
Despite the opportunity, Berry said she felt “the story didn’t feel quite right.”
“I remember having that argument: ‘Why can’t Catwoman save the world like Batman and Superman do? Why is she just saving women from a face cream that cracks their face off?'” said the star. “But I was just the actor for hire. I wasn’t the director. I had very little say over that.”
Halle is now trying her hands in different opportunities to make history. Berry pitched herself to play Jackie, a mixed-martial arts fighter who reinvigorates her career.
“Why not a Black woman?” she thought. “It’s an old genre; there’s so many great fight films that have been made. I made the point why it would be worth retelling an age-old story with this new twist.”
Eventually, she was also given the position of director, and the role is giving her satisfaction. “As an actor, I always show up and do my part, and I can only do what I can do,” Berry said. “Being the director, I have a part in the totality of every department. I get to have a voice. That was different, and I really loved that.”
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