PERFECT STRANGER: An Interview with Halle Berry, continued
By Wilson Morales

Do you feel the internet, the whole online universe, is a good thing or bad thing overall?

HB: I don't think we know yet, what the outcome will be of the Internet. I see the pluses and the minuses very clearly right now; how it will ultimately evolve? Time will tell. But right now, it's a good thing, because I go to it a lot, and you can have information at your fingertips. I'm diabetic and I go into diabetic chat rooms and I learn about the disease and about science and things I need to know to help me, which is a good thing. The Internet is also a very negative place, because people can say whatever they want and not have to take responsibility for their comments. I have to always take responsibility. If you're in a public position, you have to take responsibility for things you think, it seems like. You have to take responsibility for things you said ten years ago. You always take responsibility and I think on the Internet you can say whatever you want, so I think its become very negative because there's no ramifications. There's no penalties, there's no price to pay for speaking your mind, telling lies, or being negative or being evil. It's a free for all, and I don't think good will come from that, ultimately. It doesn't seem like it's a recipe for good.

When you go online to the diabetic chat rooms, do you go as yourself?

HB: Yes, I go as myself. People don’t believe me half the time. I’m like, “Whatever, I’m trying to get the information dude. If you don’t believe me, get off.” (laughs) I’m usually on there to see if something I read was true or read up on an article that some doctor wrote.

What’s the experience of having a chat room like?

HB: That’s good. It’s a positive place. The good thing about Hallewood.com is that I have an amazing president that runs this club and we keep it very positive. We don’t allow negativity of the internet. Everybody has their name and they have a profile on the web. If they say something you can click to their profile and get their name, where they live, and you get information about them so that they don’t get anonymity and I think that’s important that we speak and we stand up for what we say.

There's been talk of a DC Comics Justice League film, with Batman, Superman, all those characters together. Would you do Catwoman if they asked you?

HB: No, no. You guys didn't like “Catwoman” the first time, and I'm not a masochist.

You've said that you loved the role….

HB: I love it, but my ego is in check, and I'm not just gonna do it for the sake of, you know, doing it for myself. I make movies for people, and if people don't really want to see that, then I wouldn't make the same mistake twice, obviously. I wouldn't choose to do that.

Can you talk about showing up at the Razzie Awards, which a lot of actors don’t do?

HB: It was fun. It was a lot of fun. It’s probably one of the best things I think I’ve done and I totally got to put that to bed. But I also got to laugh at myself and put our failures behind us.

How was working on this film with Bruce (Willis)?

HB: It was good, you know, Bruce was my neighbor. When I got this movie, we talked about who would be the right Harrison Hill, and we talked about who was charismatic and charming, that women love but who men like also. Like, he's gotta be cheating and you've gotta kind of think its okay, and men have to root for him and women have to say 'it's okay that you're that way.' Who is that guy? And almost simultaneously we all said 'Bruce Willis.' And I said 'it's funny, he's my next-door neighbor.' And they said 'really?' And I said 'yeah, like, I could spit on his front door. He's my next-door neighbor. Why don't I just take him the script?' So I did. I just walked over there and said 'read this, if you love it, I'd love you to be in it, if you don't, forget I ever came over here, and I'll never do this again.' And he liked it. Like, in a day he called back and said 'I love it, I really want to do it

Did he remember you from your previous film together, “The Last Boy Scout”?

HB: He didn't even know I was alive in that movie. I don't even think he looked me in the face. He probably doesn't know we worked together. He didn't noticed me back then, and I was so in awe of Bruce Willis and being on a big fancy movie like that. Working with him now reminded me on the absurdity of life on how you can go from one extreme to the other within the same life. It reminds me that anything is possible always. Just because you are in one place doesn't mean you can't go whereever your mind can imagine, because who would have thought that 16 years later we would have a chance to do it again in a way we did this time.

You talk earlier about being scared. Are you prepared to go bald for “Nappily Ever After”?

HB: Yes, I'm scared to death of that. I just finally grew my hair out after a decade of short hair. I just finally got it all together and now this opportunity came up to embrace taking a deeper look at how our hair defines us. I'm a victim of my hair totally defining me sometimes. I won't leave the house if the hair's not right, and I have a bad day if my hair's not right, and if I get a bad color job it's just; I really wanna take a look at that, and I really wanna understand and I wanna break free of this hair bondage. Men too! Men go bald whether they like it or not, and I think it has an adverse effect on the psyche of men too, when they lose their hair. They're attached to their hair too. We all identify ourselves through our hair, and when we lose it, it affects us. I think it’s a journey worth taking on film, to do a movie that really looks at how we can learn to define ourselves in more profound, more meaningful ways and not the superficial way that we often do. We're all guilty of it

Would you like to do more comedy?

HB: “Nappily Ever After”, this movie where I shave my head, is sort of a dramedy-comedy, but I would love to do. I did one a long time ago called B.A.P.S. and I took a lot of flak for doing that too. It was, like, physical comedy, and I loved that. People don't know that about me, that I'm sort of a klutz, and sort of goofy and sort of silly.

You mentioned in the press notes that Bruce improvised a lot during his scenes? Can you give some examples?

HB: He would just always, no matter what the scene was, he would find a way to make it funny, to make it a comedy. He would never stop when it said 'cut' when it was his last line, I would know there's gonna be about 15 more things that he's gonna say, he's not gonna end the scene right here, so I always had to be prepared to go wherever he went. Because I knew he never wanted to stop the scenes, he would just go on and on and on and on and on and on. James Foley, who loves actors and loves to watch acting, would let it go, and sometimes I'd be looking at James like, 'somebody call cut, because this is going on and on!' A lot of that stuff I was hoping they would put it on the DVD and I think they might put a lot of Bruce's stuff on the DVD. I think it would be funny for people to see. It's really funny.

When do you start shooting the film with Billy Bob (Thornton), “Tulia”?

HB: Well, he might not actually be in it. That's been a little bit of misreporting.

Is Carl Franklin still directing?

HB: Carl Franklin is directing, but we don't even know if we're going to start right away. We're still working on getting it together, and Billy Bob might have a scheduling conflict.

How about shooting the film with Benecio (del Toro)?

HB: I did that already. That’s called “Things We Lost in the Fire” and directed by a female director, Suzanne Bier, and she did “After The Wedding”, which was nominated for an Oscar this year. That comes out in the Fall.

What about producing the Alicia Keys project?

HB: That’s still out there, “Composition in Black and White”. We’re trying to get a good script that we all like and we’re getting closer and closer everyday, but these things take time. To get a good script today is often challenging and a character like Phillipa (Schuyler), her life was so long and so involved. It’s sort of a bio so you have to figure out what parts of her life were important and what parts can you just gloss over it. It takes time top get that balance right.

Can you talk about the project that Producer Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas is also doing with you, “Class Act”?

HB: We have a first draft, it's really good, Doug Atchison is set to direct, from “Akeelah and the Bee”, and so far it's looking really good. I'm excited, because she's not a woman of color, she's just this teacher that ran for public office and that's a step in the right direction for me, because I've been fighting to just be seen as a woman and not always have my color precede me, so when Elaine said 'wouldn't this be a great role for you?' I said 'you should ask her. Maybe she doesn't want her story portrayed by a black woman.' And she loved the idea, so that said to me that things are changing, and she said 'I just want somebody who embodies the spirit of me, I don't care what color they are,' and she thought that she wanted me to do it, so things are changing, and that's good.

PERFECT STRANGER opens on April 13, 2007

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