[IMG:L]On a recent Oprah appearance, Oscar-winner Halle Berry revealed how she had to convince the moviemakers to cast her as the bereaving, gently acerbic Audrey, made a young widow through violence. While the production was rather set on David Duchovny for the role of Audrey’s husband, they were intimidated by the dilemma they thought the illustrious beauty posed: how would they represent an interracial world? And what would her kids be like?
Perhaps the mixed-race Berry was the exact actress needed to help tear down the illusive barrier, and open up the filmmakers to the possibilities of Berry and Duchovny sharing a perfectly normal marriage with their normal kids.
Fully appreciating this family portrait, Berry asserted, “For me, that’s my life, so it was a no-brainer–I’m the product of that. I thought they’d [the kids would ] be like me, and what’s wrong with that?” To her credit, powerhouse Danish director, Susanne Bier of After the Wedding (2006), pays no attention to that ‘issue’ in her story. What she does focus on is the tale of how one woman aching from loss, finds a complicated way to reconnect to her husband through his dubious recovering best friend (Benicio Del Toro), and through the love of her dispirited children–all searching for hope.
[IMG:R]It’s a good thing tenacious Berry is used to fighting for her parts, as it’s the first role that inspired her to grasp hold, conceptually, of motherhood. Hollywood.com sat with the pregnant
Hollywood.com: Was it the script that attracted you to this film or was it an awareness of Allan Loeb’s films?
Halle Berry: I read the script and I thought, “Wow. I have got to play this part and be in this movie. I don’t care who else is in it. I’ve got to do this.” The response we got was, “No, no, no.” Then we finally were told, “Once we get a director in place then maybe we’ll know.” There was an opportunity for me to meet with Susanne [Bier]. I had seen her movies when I learned she was being cast and then I really knew I wanted to work on this with her.
HW: What was Susanne’s immediate vibe regarding the issue of Audrey’s race?
HB: We had a half an hour coffee and when I walked up, my first question for her was, “Do you care that I’m black and this wasn’t written for a black woman?” She said, “To hell with what color you are. Just tell me why you like this character. Tell me about Audrey. Let’s start there.” It was relevant to her. And, then I got the part.
[IMG:L]HW: What did you tell her in that brief conversation over coffee?
HB: I don’t really remember what I said, but I was pretty passionate that day. What I loved about it [the script] was that I connect to all the characters, not just Audrey, but all the characters. There was something that touched me. I haven’t lived this woman’s story in any way, shape or form. I have lived what many of us have, and that’s having to go through the values of life and coming through on the other side–realizing that somehow we will be better, life is different but life can often be better having that [hard] experience. I thought it was a message that most people could relate to and incorporate into their own lives. People can see themselves through all these characters.
HW: Audrey tempers her grief with her need to care for her kids. How will motherhood carry over into how you regard your future work?
HB: I know whenever I have this baby, my life is gonna change–my life has already changed. And I know that my work will change, and probably the choices I make–because I’m one who chooses roles based on what I’m most needing and wanting to express in my real life, somehow. I don’t purposefully do that but halfway through making a movie, I go, ‘Oh, now I get why I’m doing this’. I’ll be more grounded–have more life to draw from.
HW: You dug your heels into Audrey’s character. What research did you draw upon?
HB: I did read a book by Joan Didion–which dealt with loss of a husband. I also realized that I personally never–I’m lucky–I never lost anyone really really close to me. So I haven’t had to deal with grief like that. But I realized that there are many people around me who had.
[IMG:R]HW: Though he connects beautifully with her kids, who are seeking out a father figure, Jerry is rejected harshly by Audrey. Did you find this selfish?
HB: I initially thought that Audrey rejected him because she really had no knowledge of [the level of their friendship and was jealous]. In her world she could not understand why a guy like [Benicio Del Toro’s] Jerry who was once a lawyer decided to squander his life away … I don’t think she could really understand that, or why her husband had such a need to have a connection with this person. I think she really started to think about not only life differently, but her own life and the life of Jerry differently.
HW: Is this why you feel Audrey later latches on–unhealthily–to the unstable Jerry, an addict she’s detested?
HB: She reached out to him because she inherently knew he was someone who could help her and he was the closest people to her husband. She knew that and always hated that. I think she wanted to touch [David Duchovny’s] Brian one more time. I think she knew that Jerry was a way to do that. Having these selfish reasons for bringing him into her life, she realized she had a bigger purpose even though she was grieving and suffering. With all of her own issues she realized that she could actually help him while he was helping her.
[IMG:L]HW: Your onscreen family had such an authentic feel. How did you achieve this?
HB: As far as making the family seem real, my challenge was to have a good relationship with David Duchovny and feel like we were a married couple of ten years; to have the excitement of that because they’re a couple who’s so much in love, but who also find the mundane quality that comes with being married for ten years and doing the same thing day in, day out. We talked about it a lot, and it was important to find a way to have a little hint of that ‘mundaneness’–that everything wasn’t quite “perfect” but there was deep, deep love there.
HW: This film has the guts to have the lead character–who is female–not sympathetic at times…
HB: One of the big parts to playing Audrey was to not worry about being sympathetic. I think for an actor that would be suicide if you worry too much about how you’re coming off. I think it’s most important to be honest and truthful in being the character. What I discovered in my research is that the stages of grief are really severe and I’ve portrayed her honestly–and it’s not always pretty for those grieving and dealing with loss.
[IMG:R]HW: What are the mourning stages?
HB: Before anything there’s denial, and with denial you can’t accept anything in your world. And there’s anger and resentment, and that anger is often misplaced. It’s taken out on the wrong people because you don’t know what else to do with it. It’s a fight to not completely fall apart, because if Audrey fell apart her whole world would fall apart–then what would happen with her children? And for all practical purposes she could’ve ended up in a mental institution. It was really about trying to be truthful but not really sugarcoat the harshness that what one is dealing with when they’ve lost the love of their life.
HW: Some of these scenes are really heavy. Were you able to just cut loose after work, or did you need some down-time to recoup?
HB: You don’t have to really live it to be it. When you have Benicio Del Toro around you can’t get too heavy about anything! He has a wonderful way of finding the funny in every situation.
HW: With a baby on the way, do you think that parenthood, for actors in general, affects the roles actors connect to?
HB: I don’t know yet, but I’ll find out. I do know that I will personally not feel like, ‘God I wish I never did Monster’s Ball or Swordfish.’
HW: You often choose extremely complicated characters to play. Does this say something about you in your real life?
HB: I hope so! God, I hope so.
