When it comes to admitting a movie was bad, by far the Gold Standard goes to wonderful actor Halle Berry:
One of the flat-out most beautiful and talented artists in Hollywood, Halle Berry has been a potent and jaw-droppingly sexy presence in American film for more than twenty years.
She’s smart, experienced, and capable, and when she was given the lead role in Catwoman, she took the job with gusto. Catwoman is a legendary character in the Batman story arc: a glamorous, sensual and wonderfully wicked villain that has been played by no less a series of actors as -
Lee Meriwether:
Julie Newmar:
(Good GOD those hips!)
Eartha Kitt:
and Michelle Pfeiffer:
It’s hard to find another long-running female character that is so beloved and admired as Selina Kyle, and all her actresses have been absolutely stunning.
And so was Halle:
Hot as HELL, and with Halle’s powerful acting skill to back it up.
But the movie SUCKED, and the pic above is a good indication why. Here’s another pic:
You’re welcome.
The reason is that the movie makers had no IDEA why Catwoman was such an iconic character, so they stuffed a great actress into a silly, sexy outfit, wrote a horribly stupid story that has nothing to do with Selina Kyle, filmed it badly, and gave their greatest asset nothing to do but be sexy.
OK - gonna get a whole bunch of fanboys screaming here, but Catwoman is not, and has NEVER been, an intrinsically sexy character.
I’ll wait until the howls stop.
OK - Catwoman is not intrinsically sexy. Selina is of course seductive, and she is there to draw the male eye, but Selina’s main strength is that she is a skilled, capable and dangerous villain who just happens to be sexy.
Naturally, stuff any of the ladies that have played her into a skin-tight black bodysuit and they are going to be sexy - Julie Newmar in particular had a whale of a good time making teenage boys sweat with that seductive purr and trademark butt-wiggle.
Even when going away from the classic storyline, Michelle singed the celluloid with her steaming hot performance, but what made her GREAT was a superb story, brilliant cinematography and perfect acting among all members of the cast. Michelle made her Selina a disturbed and psychotic woman out for justifiable revenge.
Now - I got off track a bit, I started singing the praises of the Catwoman character - but that’s the point. As much as James Bond for guys, Selina Kyle is a legendary recurring character and one of the greatest villainesses of all time.
But Catwoman (2004) SUCKED. It was awful. They threw a great and solid storyline out, wrote a script that would fail a grade-10 English cast, hired an Oscar-winning actor and used her for NOTHING but a hot body in skin tight leather.
Halle gave it her all, but nothing could fix that catastrophe of a film.
Hollywood has a counter-award to the Oscars: the Golden Raspberries. The just-for-fun alternate award ceremony celebrates the worst of film that year, and in that year Halle Berry was awarded the Razzie for Worst Actress.
Many actors receiving such a dubious ‘award’ don’t come to the ceremony. It’s often seen as an insult, though it’s nothing of the kind. It’s a light-hearted reminder that as good as someone may be, they will have bad days, bad performances and bad movies. It is a celebration - not a disgrace. The Razzies are a celebration that we are all HUMAN, and Humans are not perfect.
Halle Berry got that, and unlike so many other actors, she DID show up to receive her Razzie in person.
Her acceptance speech was hilarious. She had famously melted down receiving her Oscar two years earlier, so not only slammed Catwoman, she parodied herself in one of the most brilliant acceptance speeches ever recorded.
It was a moment of sheer class and good sportsmanship and any flak Halle had taken for her Oscar speech, she became instantly beloved and admired by all Hollywood.
If you are going to admit a movie you were in is bad, THIS is how you do it:
Way to go, Halle. :)
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