Halle Berry blows back into her role as the weather-controlling mutant Storm for X-Men: The Last Stand, sweeping Hollywood.com off its feet.
Hollywood.com: You were very vocal about wanting Storm to have a more significant role if you came back for a third X-Men film.
Halle Berry: I’ve said it before, but it wasn’t about being more in the movie. I just wanted to have a point of view, and right away when I met with Brett [Ratner] he said that he agreed with me, and that that was what he hadn’t liked about the series so far. See, Storm is so strong in the comic book and such a presence, and I said it wasn’t about how many minutes that I was onscreen, but that if I was on for five, let me say something in five minutes. I know that it’s an ensemble, but let Storm have a personality. Let her have a point of view. Let her speak and say something. And he was like, “Right on. She’s going to speak this time.”
HW: There was some reported friction between you and previous X-director Bryan Singer. Would you have come back if he were at the helm?
HB: [Laughs] Yeah. I mean, as a director I think that Bryan is awesome. I can’t wait to see Superman Returns, and I am a fan of him that way. It wasn’t that if he was coming back I wouldn’t have come back, but it was more that I had another project that I was sort of toying with, where I would really get to do something. And it was way less money then this pays us, but I was just feeling like I didn’t want to go and get a lot of money and sit around my trailer and do nothing. That didn’t sound like a good time for seven months. So it was more about that and realizing that if they gave Storm a little something to do, then I would gladly come back. I just didn’t want to come back and sit around when I had an opportunity to go and do a great piece of work somewhere else. I was struggling with my obligation to the series and to Storm, or whether I should go do some work. It was just sort of a confusing time for me to figure out what was best for me to do, and ultimately I chose this.
HW: What, for you, was the biggest challenge of making the third installment?
HB: Probably on this one it was the flying. I had to do a lot of spinning this time around and I found out that I have a pretty weak stomach. I lost my cookies a few times.
HW: These films, for all their action and adventure, have a pretty serious theme running through them. Was that part of the appeal for you?
HB: I love that they took it seriously, because that said that this was a serious issues, but that we could present it to you in a way that both young and old could relate to and understand and get something out of. I think that in the comic book it’s presented as a serious issue. So to not have it be serious, I think would be to not do the comic book justice. It’s always been serious.
HW: The mutant cure is at the core of this film. Is there are cure you’d be tempted by?
HB: I’d cure diabetes. I would cure anything that ails anyone’s health. I would love for everyone to live with optimum good health, and no one would be sick or have any disease that threatens their life. I have a nephew who has Down Syndrome, and I think that he was born that way because he’s meant to be born that way, and I think that those babies are joy babies. I know that my sister has learned a lot from having him, and I think that he has been a blessing in her life. So would I want to change that? No. He had a lot of heart surgeries when he was younger, but would I want him to have heart problems? No. I want him to be happy and healthy, but would I change who he is? No.
HW: If he chose a cure, would you support that?
HB: Yeah, because he’s living with it and he said that he didn’t want to be this way? Then yes, because I think that I ultimately support that we all have that choice. If the choice were there for us, I would support someone who wanted to change because I don’t know what it’s like to live with that, and so I could not and would not want to stand in the way of someone else’s right to chose. But me personally, I don’t believe that I would be someone who would choose that. Like if I was able to say, “Okay, I can be white or black?” Would I be white? No. Would I be Asian, or change in any way? I think that I wouldn’t, and that I would stay the way that I am.
HW: Outside of Monster’s Ball, what’s the most satisfying film you’ve made?
HB: I would probably say Introducing Dorothy Dandrige, simply because that was the first time that I had tried to produce something, and I managed to do it not knowing what the hell I was doing, really. I was just trying to figure it out, and I was able to bring to life the story of a woman that I just loved, and whose life so inspired mine, and who left a legacy that allowed me to dream that I could one day do what she did. So that was really meaningful. The work itself was meaningful, but knowing the importance of bringing her story to the forefront and reminding people how hard it has been for people of color in this industry felt really great.
HW: Any other historical figures you’re anxious to portray?
HB: The only one that I would probably love to play probably later in life is Angela Davis. She’s someone else that I really love, and her life is so fascinating. Her position that she was in, many people think that’s not sympathetic and they say, “You can’t make a movie about Angela Davis. You know who she was?” Yes, I do, and that’s why I’d like to do a movie about her, because I think that anyone is sympathetic when you understand why they did what they did, even if they did something horrific. I think that if you tell the story from a human point of view, if you’re human and a sympathetic person you can understand why people make bad choices sometimes. We’ve all made them. I think that you can take yourself outside of your reality for a minute and maybe understand why people do bad things sometimes. And why they do destructive things, and that’s a reality. It’s what is happening all around us. It’s not that I think she did, but I think that you can understand why anyone does something if you come from the right point of view.
HW: Storm sometimes sports a Mohawk in the comics. Is that a look you’d be willing to sport?
HB: [Laughs] Next movie. I think that I’d have to go shorter. I can’t go longer. I would be open to doing the white Mohawk. I have to give it to Brett. He’s the one who said, “OK, that hair. Gone. I don’t know what we’re going to do, but it’s not going to be that.”
HW: If they called you up for a fourth film or a spin-off and wanted Storm to be the leader of the younger X-Men, would you be tempted?
HB: I think that I would have to say yes, because I could see where that would be a part that I could probably sink my teeth into a little bit more, being the leader of the school and have an impact on the kids in a different way. And I wouldn’t be just flying the plane if I was running the school. So I think that I would go back. [Laughs] If I had my cake.
HW: But otherwise you’re done with done with other comic book characters, besides Storm?
HB: I’m done. Or Catwoman.
HW: Really?
HB: In a minute! I loved it so much, and I hate that it… it was what it was, but if we had a chance to do it again, I know that we would make it better. We’d make a better story and have a better villain. I always thought that we should have had a better villain than a woman who’s faced cracked off, but you know, that’s the past and I’m over it. I think that I would do it. I loved being Catwoman. I can go with a joke, but if they seriously said, “Here’s how we’re going to make another one and make it better because we learned from the mistakes,” I would do it because I believe that we could make it better. I think that Catwoman was a great character that maybe just wasn’t presented in the right way. People see it on video and they seem to like it. They tell me that it wasn’t as bad as they all said.
HW: It’s been reported that you’re thinking about having children, possibly adopting.
HB: I hope so. I’ve certainly reached an age where working is starting to feel like it’s not enough. I’m starting to feel like I need something more in my life, something more meaningful, and so hopefully when the time is right and whatever is meant for me to have it will manifest itself and will come my way. Well, I’m working on making that manifest. I’m working on thoughts of manifestation [Laughs].
