Halle Berry steps into the ring for her directorial debut

Halle Berry is known among fans for her extensive acting career, and she is now transitioning into a directorial role. WikiCommons

Halle Berry is a seasoned veteran in the world of acting. She’s sparred with over thirty years worth of roles. She’s grappled with the challenges of being a woman of color in the film industry. She even raised her championship belt up high with an Academy Award win in 2002 for best actress in “Monster’s Ball.” 

But not even injured ribs could hold the 55-year-old artist back from stepping into the ring with her biggest opponent: directing and acting in the same film, entitled “Bruised.”

“It is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my professional career,” Berry said at a Nov. 16 virtual college roundtable. “I had to figure this out for myself ... I had to figure out what the look, the feel and the tone of the film would be, and that was something I never had to do before. That proved to be the most challenging part.”

“Bruised” is Halle Berry’s directorial debut, where she also stars in the film as Jackie Justice, a disgraced Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter looking for redemption in the cage. Jackie must also face her past, as her six-year-old son Manny (Danny Boyd) reenters her life years after she gave him up for adoption. 

Berry met with The Panther and several other U.S. student publications at the Nov. 16 event to discuss all aspects of the film, from casting to fight choreography. These select publications were allowed to watch “Bruised” prior to the film’s release. 

When asked about comparisons between herself and her character, Jackie Justice, Berry told The Panther she can relate to Jackie’s want for forgiveness and need for redemption. 

Actress Halle Berry discussed with The Panther the process of directing and acting in her new movie “Bruised.” Photo courtesy of Nick De Lucca

“All of us can relate to that,” Berry said. “I feel like the fundamentals of who Jackie is — and all these characters — I really relate to. It’s sort of the brokenness of what being human is really all about.”

Berry hopes that, in her directorial debut, she can address issues that have become taboo to speak about, let alone present in films, such as physical, emotional and sexual abuse. She said  abuse often gets swept under the rug and makes women forget who they are in life. 

“Bruised,” according to Berry, is an opportunity to “shine light in dark areas.”

“For people who don’t understand this world... I hope they find compassion and find ways to understand others,” Berry said. “If (content is) hard to watch, imagine having to live it, because it’s true. For people who see themselves reflected in (the film), I hope they will feel validated by its existence and feel that forgiveness and redemption is in store for them.”

Jackie’s quest revolves around learning to properly channel her anger and energy into her training while stepping back into motherhood. To physically prepare for the role, Berry started training with Valentina Shevchenko, the current UFC women’s flyweight champion, three years before production. 

Berry told The Panther she feels like she’s in the best shape of her life thanks to Shevchenko, who also stars in the film as Ladykiller. 

“We would do five hours a day, Valentina and I,” Berry said. We trained for two months. We did a real training camp, a real weight cut and all the things she would do to prepare for a fight ... I was used to working hard (and) training long hours, so I was good to go.”

Berry is a devout fan of the sport and was in attendance at UFC 268 Nov. 6 to hand women’s strawweight world champion Rose Namajunas her championship belt. Berry is also a fan of the fight genre and drew inspiration from movies such as “Rocky,” “The Wrestler,” “Million Dollar Baby,” and “Fight Club.”

Her goal as director was to make the fight scenes as real as possible, and she recruited former UFC fighter Eric Brown to accomplish this. 

“My only direction to him as the director was, 'It has to be so real, I want people to think they’re watching a real fight,’” Berry said. “‘I want it to be seamless, and I don’t just want to do big flashy moves that we see in movies. I want to pay homage to the sport. I want to do high-level MMA, and shoot it in a way that makes people feel like they’re really watching a real fight.’”

During filming, Berry broke several ribs. She had previously broken ribs while filming “John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum” which shut down production for eight weeks. This prompted Berry to keep her latest injury under wraps until the end of production.

“I knew that if I told anybody this had happened, they would shut me down, and I would probably never come back to this movie,” Berry said in a prior interview. “I would lose Valentina ... I probably would lose all of my financing ... I knew I would lose it all. So, I realized I had to keep this to myself and do what real fighters do: suck it up and keep on going.”

The role was originally written for Irish Catholic actress Blake Lively, but once Lively passed on the role, Berry felt compelled to step in. After taking on directorial responsibilities, she helped reimagine and rewrite the script to capture her perspective as an African American woman. 

“We’ve never seen (a fight film) from the point of view of a Black woman in the inner city, and I thought that was reason enough to have another stab at it,” Berry said. “I think part of what (makes) this film different is that there’s a female behind the camera. I’m tackling issues that, in many ways, only women really experience.”

The film also contains a queer love story involving Jackie’s trainer, Bobbi ‘Buddhakhan’ Berroa (Sheila Atim). Berry publicly vowed to be an ally to the LGBTQ+ community in July 2020 after apologizing for considering playing the role of a transgender man. She explained Atim was not only the perfect person to play Buddhakhan, but the perfect actress for a first-time director.

“I didn’t need to micromanage (the actors),” Berry said. “I could say one or two words and easily manipulate their instrument because they had that kind of talent. With my budget, I didn't have time for take after take. (Atim) was by far the actor I needed like that.”

Despite the challenges of directing and acting in her own film, Halle noted the challenge was always worth pursuing. 

“I think anything worth achieving is hard, whether you be in the fight game, in the world of MMA or if you’re in Hollywood trying to be a woman of color (and) making a way out of no way,” Berry said. “It’s all about your mental fortitude, how strong you are, how tenacious you can be, how committed you are and how much you love what you’re doing.”

“Bruised” is available in select theaters and is available on Netflix as of Nov. 24.