Halle Berry Issues Ominous Warning To Zoe Kravitz About Catwoman Role
Halle Berry gives Zoe Kravitz a Catwoman warning.
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Halle Berry issued an ominous but clear warning to Zoe Kravitz now that the younger actress is poised to step into the role of Catwoman in the upcoming Matt Reeves’ movie The Batman. Berry sat down for a lengthy conversation about her career and her directorial debut, Bruised, with the hosts of Variety’s Awards Circuit podcast earlier this week where she discussed her 2004 critical and box office flop Catwoman.
As Zoe Kravitz prepares for the world to see her turn as the iconic DC Comics character alongside Robert Pattinson’s Caped Crusader, Halle Berry noted that she’s opening herself up to more criticism from the character’s beloved fans than she might realize. She told Zoe Kravitz that fans may “come for you” but not to let that interfere with her work on the character. “I’ll just tell her, get ready, they might come for you – but don’t let that affect your interpretation about who she thinks Catwoman might be,” Halle Berry told the podcast (via The Atlanta Black Star).
For those unfamiliar, Halle Berry portrayed the hero in a 2004 standalone movie. That said, it’s generous to call it a Catwoman movie given that she really only played the superhero/villain in name only. The film wasn’t set in Gotham, nor did it acknowledge any larger superhero universe. In fact, her character wasn’t even named Selina Kyle, as Zoe Kravitz will be and as the comic book dictates. Instead, Halle Berry played a non-villainous and quiet woman by the name of Patience Philips who is basically possessed by the spirit of cats and then saves her city from the horrors of a makeup line that’s destined to kill the vain people who use it.
If it sounds like a total mess unworthy of the star power of Halle Berry (even in 2004), you’re absolutely right. The movie earned an abysmal $82 million at the box office on an estimated $100 million budget. As if that wasn’t bad enough, critics savaged this movie. It currently sits at a 9 percent on Rotten Tomatoes with an audience score of only 18%.
It turns out that divorcing a beloved character from the comic books and fandom that made her popular wasn’t the right creative decision — who knew? Fortunately, Halle Berry realized the error of her ways almost immediately. Two years after winning the Academy Award for best actress in a leading role for Monster Ball, Halle Berry proved what a good sport she was by accepting the trophy for worst actress at the Golden Raspberry Awards for her portrayal of Patience Philips. When she took the stage to accept the award, she did so with her Oscar in hand — because Halle Berry is hilarious!
Despite the poor reception to the movie, Halle Berry wouldn’t be afraid to roll up her sleeves and take a shot at redemption. Speaking to Vanity Fair for a recent interview, she revealed that she would accept the job to remake Catwoman, this time from the director’s chair. Thanks to Zoe Kravitz taking on the role in the upcoming Batman reboot, it’s doubtful the studio would greenlight a standalone Catwoman reboot outside the DC Universe any time soon (not to mention all the other reasons the 2004 movie doesn’t deserve to be revisited).
