Halle Berry recently spilled the catnip about her purr-sonal experience playing Catwoman and the whole claw-some backlash it brought in a new interview.
In case you’ve wiped it from your memory banks, the ever-fabulous Halle donned the feline suit in a 2004 standalone movie, taking over the litter box from Michelle Pfeiffer and others who’d rocked the role before her.
To say the movie tanked harder than a soggy cat would be an understatement. It bombed at the box office and raked in scathing reviews, earning Halle a Razzie Award for Worst Actress. Ouch!
Reflecting on this cat-astrophe 20 years later, Halle dished out her thoughts on the movie’s poor reception and how she became the scratching post for all the negativity. She also gave her two cents on other actresses who have since tackled the role.
Chatting with Entertainment Weekly, Halle said fans began sharpening their claws the moment they glimpsed her on-set costume.
“Fans hissed about the suit,” she said. “It was something different, but seriously, if you’re going to remake Catwoman, why not toss in some fresh catnip? The suit suited me, my body, my nine lives, and my feline finesse,” she purred.
While the script had her whiskers twitching with doubt, she still had a fur-bulous time on set.
“I mean, Catwoman saving women from bad face cream? Seriously? Other superheroes save the world; my Catwoman was just saving faces from cracking like old cat food,” she meowed. “I knew it was a bit of a weak sauce plot, but back then, I didn’t have the claws to scratch back at the script. So, I just went along for the ride.”
After the movie flopped like a cat falling off a shelf, Halle said it felt like she had a hairball stuck in her throat for years.
“I didn’t love the backlash. Being a Black woman, I’m used to having to swipe at negativity like it’s a dangling piece of yarn. I’m always fighting, swimming upstream like a fish out of water. I’ve been busting stereotypes and clawing my way up forever. So, yeah, I collected that Razzie, laughed at myself, and sashayed away. It didn’t stop me from chasing my dreams like a laser pointer,” she added.
And what about other women slipping into the Catwoman suit? Halle’s all paws up for it!
“I love seeing every woman’s version of Catwoman. Like dudes playing Batman or Spider-Man, we’re a litter of our own. I admire every version I see. Zoë Kravitz’s take? Meow-velous! It makes me purr with happiness. There’s no competition; we’re all strutting our stuff as this iconic kitty,” she purred.
