A role that forever changed the direction of Halle Berry's career
Halle Berry has been one of Hollywood's biggest and most beloved stars for 30 years. From his breakout role in Eddie Murphy's romantic comedy "Boomerang" in 1992, to impressive performances in films like "Bulworth" and "007 Die Another Day" in the 1990s and 2000s, moviegoing audiences in the United States United and Elsewhere die for actresses born into comedy, a dedication that continues to reflect to this day. She looks at the recent success of her work in movies like “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Paravelum” and “Injured”.
But if Halle Berry pinpoints the exact moment she becomes an up-and-coming Hollywood royal family, there's one movie that stands out. The performance in question and the reception of it for her wrote Belize in a book on the history of entertainment. At the same time, the impact that she had on her career process was quite different from what you expected. Of course, it's her turn to win the Oscar for 2001's "Monsters Ball."
Halle Berry made history with Monsters Ball
In 2001, Halle Berry was still in the "hot" stage of her career. By then, she had become a household name thanks to the "X-Men" franchise and showcased her ability in an acclaimed role as the lead in the 1999 television biography "Introduction to Dorothy Dandridge." -She won the Primetime Emmy Award. But Hollywood still rented him a valuable showcase on the big screen.
Sure enough, the showcase finally came through the 2001 movie "Monsters Ball," produced by Lee Daniels and directed by Marc Forster. The dark romantic drama “Monstersball” about the rapidly growing relationship between a prison officer (Billy Bob Thornton) and the widow of the last man he executed is a financier, like Thornton's Hank Grotowski. It starred Berry as a difficult widow and mother, Leticia Musgrove, who acted abusively towards her son, struggled to squelch sadness, and was almost adrift in the world.
Although controversial over racial issues and handling of intense sexual content, the film allowed Berry to see the full range of her acting skills. She was fully acclaimed for her performance and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. This is the seventh black artist in history. Then, after sweeping all the awards for the season, she went on to make history by becoming the first black woman to take home the Best Actress Award statue.
Winning an Oscar didn't improve Berry's career overnight.
As Halle Berry recently told Variety's Profile, the experience following her historic Oscar win was bittersweet. On the other hand, of course, it's an Oscar for Best Leading Actress, as it emphasized her attention on her. . Award-Winning Speech At the time, I looked bigger than myself. “This is for all the nameless, anonymous women out there who have a chance tonight because this door was opened,” she shed tears at a former black pioneer in this category. After offering the prize, she said she.
But the next few years weren't exactly a winning lap, either for Berry or for black women in the industry. For example, when she told Revlon CEO Ron Perelman that she expected higher payouts for her ad campaign now that she's become an Oscar winner, Perelman "turns purple" with anger, a stalker. I did it” (Telegraph).
"I think it's mainly because there was no room for someone like me," the actress told Variety. “Oh, I thought all these great scripts would come my way. These great directors would knock on my door." That didn't happen. In fact, it is a bit more difficult. They call it the curse of the Oscars. He is expected to present an award-winning performance. Berry's appearance in the infamous 2004 flop “Catwoman” didn't help, as many previous “fans” suddenly enjoyed her supposed decline.
To make matters worse, for 20 years now, the Academy Award for Best Actress has been the only winner of the Academy Awards, except for white ones.
Berry feels vague about her Oscar-winning heritage
Whiplash on top of the world realized that the industry hadn't changed much, and Berry began describing the Oscar win as "one of my biggest tragic events" for variety shows. "The next morning, I was like, 'Wow, I was chosen to answer the door,'" the actress confessed. “And that no one is… she asked me. 'Is it an important moment, or was it just an important moment for me?' I wanted to believe that it was so much bigger than me. in front of me, but I didn't, so I felt so much bigger than me."
In fact, the Oscars crowned Berry one of the leading actors of her generation, ensuring that her name would always be mentioned in the chronicles of film history. But just as Dorothy Dandridge, who was nominated for the first Best Black Actress for "Carmen Jones" in 1955, was stuck on the roadside again in Hollywood, Berry found out: Magically, the next day there was a place for me. ”
In fact, in the years that followed, Berry realized that she was "paving the way."
The best actress award is still an overwhelmingly white female game
Following Berry's win, the Best Actress category has technically become more open in that more black actresses have been nominated in a shorter period of time: seven in less than 20 years. In particular, the 2020 edition was a great milestone. Viola Davis became the first black woman to be nominated twice for the Best Actress Award after being nominated for "Help" in 2011 (thanks to "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom").
Still, Davis has returned to racing both times, even after being ranked the favorite for most of each awards season. She was not the only one. In 2009, Gabourey Sidibe had some serious support and a shooting star story to win the “Precious” but she lost to Sandra Bullock in the “Blindside”. And let's not forget the countless acclaimed performances that weren't even nominated, like Lupita Nyongo in "Us."
As Berry himself told the variety, “naturally I thought there were women who definitely should have done it. They wanted to do that, but that's it. I don't have an answer, maybe it didn't go as planned."
We are not, but we continue to hope that academia and industry as a whole learn better from black women.
