Halle Berry on what it means to direct her first movie and answering the call "when destiny knocked"
Halle Berry made her directorial debut in the new Netflix movie, "Bruised," but she says her acting role in the film about a mixed martial artist took a physical toll on her when a big blow left Berry with two broken ribs.
"I knew I had broken something. I had broken three ribs on the movie before, John Wick... I know what it felt like. But I also knew in that moment, because on John Wick, when I told them something was hurt, they shut down for eight weeks," Berry told "CBS Mornings" co-host Gayle King.
Fearing a shutdown that could have potentially caused the film to lose funding and actors, Berry pushed through the pain and "Bruised" became the number 1 movie on Netflix the week of its release.
The film marked yet another milestone in Berry's historic three-decade career. In 2002, she became the first and still only Black woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress.
From that role in Monster's Ball to X-Men and many others, the actress and producer has electrified movie screens and become a household name.
But directing a movie became a "surreal moment" that Berry never thought was possible.
"I think many women don't, we don't think it's possible to sort of take our destiny into our own hands this way. Or in my case, answer the call when destiny knocked because it wasn't what I planned to do," Berry said.
Berry never planned to direct "Bruised," much less become the film's leading lady. But she saw the role of Jackie Justice, a mixed martial arts fighter, through a different lens.
Justice was supposed to be a White, young woman, in her early 20s. Actress Blake Lively was originally given the script but after she passed on it, Berry began to reimagine the role.
"I was reimagining what the story could be, should be, why I thought it would be more relevant if it were a middle-aged woman of color and not a young woman who is being offered another chance, but a middle-aged woman who is being offered a last chance," Berry said. "The stakes felt so much higher when you're at that stage in life and you're really out of chances and this is a do-or-die situation."
Her passion for the role and insight into the character resulted in her directorial debut. Berry said she isn't sure what's next now that she achieved this milestone.
"I don't know. I'm just stuck in this moment right now. You know, basking in this because life has, you know, there's valleys and peaks, and I'm on a peak right now," she said.
Berry's career and personal life are aligning at the right time and she said she has all the "pieces falling together."
"I've got my children. They're healthy. They're happy. Finally, all of that domestic stuff is working itself out," Berry said. "I just directed my first movie. I'm doing my career on my terms. I feel great about that, that I'm still here after 30 years."
