Halle Berry Says She Single-Handily Carried The “Failure” And “Backlash” Of ‘Catwoman’ Film

The coveted actress spoke with ‘Entertainment Weekly’ for the 20th anniversary of the comic book adaptation.

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In reflection of Catwoman‘s 20th anniversary, Halle Berry spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the lackluster response to the film.

Per the Box Office, the comic book movie wasn’t much of a success as it only grossed $82,078,046 worldwide and actually won a series of “Worst” awards. Speaking of the film’s backlash, Berry admitted that she’s carried all of Catwoman‘s “negativity” and “failure” on her back, claiming critics have only put the weight on her.

“I felt like it was Halle Berry’s failure, but I didn’t make it alone,” she told the publication. “All these years, I’ve absolutely carried it. I didn’t love [the backlash]. Being a Black woman, I’m used to carrying negativity on my back, fighting, being a fish swimming upstream by myself. I’m used to defying stereotypes and making a way out of no way.”

CATWOMAN, Halle Berry, Lambert Wilson, 2004.

Warner Brothers/courtesy Everett Collection

Speaking to “fighting” her whole life as a Black woman and remaining resilient, she added, “It didn’t derail me. A little bad publicity about a movie? I didn’t love it, but it wasn’t going to stop my world or derail me from doing what I love to do. I hated that it got all put on me, and I hate that, to this day, it’s my failure.”

“I know I can carry it. I still have a career 20 years later. It’s just part of my story,” she continued. “That’s okay, and I’ve carried other failures and successes. People have opinions, and sometimes they’re louder than others. You just have to keep moving.”

Catwoman premiered in theaters on July 23, 2003. The Pitof-directed film starred Berry as Patience Phillips: a cosmetics company employee who dies and is reborn as Catwoman. The 57-year-old admitted that upon receiving her script for the reinvented 1940 comic book character, she was “underwhelmed” by the storyline; which sees Catwoman investigating a deadly cosmetics line.

CATWOMAN, Halle Berry, 2004.

Warner Brothers/courtesy Everett Collection

“I always thought the idea of Catwoman saving women from a face cream felt a bit soft,” she said. “All the other superheroes save the world; they don’t just save women from cracked faces. I always knew that was a soft superhero plight, but at that time in my career, I didn’t have the agency I have today or belief that I could challenge that, so I went along with it.”

According to Berry and the film’s producer Denise Di Novi, the negativity for the movie began when a photo leaked online revealing Berry’s costume ahead of the premiere. Reportedly, many comic book fans felt the look wasn’t accurate as the original suit covers the body from head to toe.

“That was the first thing that started the negativity,” said Di Novi to EW. “It was an early shot before we’d perfected it. It was so different than what people were used to in the other movie. A catsuit, by definition, everything is covered up. We thought it’d be cool to be more rock & roll and bare. Halle was famous for wearing a bikini in her Bond movie, and we were like, why not?”

BATMAN RETURNS, Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman, 1992; CATWOMAN, Halle Berry, 2004.

Warner Bros./courtesy Everett Collection

“People had such a reaction to it, which is so ridiculous,” she added. “We had the famous Colleen Atwood helping us with just that costume. Halle had a lot of input. I still think it’s cool and a lot more modern!”

Berry chimed in, “Fans were upset about the suit. It was something different, but in our minds, why keep remaking Catwoman if you’re not going to take risks and bring something different to it? The beauty was that it was better suited for my version of her, my body, who I was, and my sensibilities.”

Read the “Catwoman” 20th anniversary oral history on Entertainment Weekly in its entirety here.

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