Emmanuel Itier: How do you feel about the movie? Are you happy with the final result?

Halle Berry: I’m very happy with the movie. I’m just wondering how many people figured it out.

EI: Nobody I talked to–and I sure didn’t figure it out either. What intrigued you most about the role?

HB: I never played a character within a character, I never had this experience. She has so many layers–she is always someone else. I had to be aware, all the time, of her different personas. When I first got into it, I knew it would be challenging, but I had no idea, until we started rehearsals, how challenging it would really be. At rehearsals, we had to find out who she was at certain times, certain situations, because she was always somebody else.

EI: As a journalist, she even takes on a male persona.

HB: Yes, she did that to be taken seriously. It was hard to get into the psyche of this woman, but we had something that’s almost unheard of today: a two-week-long rehearsal time. The director, Bruce, Giovanni and I were together eight hours each day and were just talking. We learned about our characters through each other; we discovered ourselves while the director was interjecting. We had these really intellectual conversations that helped us find the characters. When we started shooting, we’re pretty prepared because we talked it all out.

EI: Did you meet women who were abused as children and talk to them when you researched for the role?

HB: No. I witnessed domestic violence as a kid, so I had enough knowledge what that does to oneself–to your will to survive and win. I have a good understanding of that. I made a lot of things up too. It’s not a true story, so I used my imagination to shape my character.

EI: Did you discover parts of yourself through this role that you’re hiding unconsciously from yourself?

HB: Absolutely. As an actor, you always do that in a movie. Every emotion you express comes from yourself–that’s where you draw from. If your character needs to get angry, it comes from you, from what you identify with anger. There is no way to cheat it. You have to use what feels organic to you. You form the emotions that live in you. At least, that’s what I do!

EI: So this script was fertile soil for you then.

HB: Oh yeah, for all of us. We’re all deep in our dysfunction in this movie. We all have our different brand of dysfunction. Bruce’s character is damaged, therefore he’s in this dysfunctional marriage and he tries to justify his actions. But erroneously, he’s the most honest one of everybody, even though he’s really sleazy–a player and playboy, brutal and dangerous but still quite honest about it. Giovanni’s character is obsessive-compulsive and very dysfunctional…and so is Ro.

EI: Have you ever been in a chat room on the Internet?

HB: Yes, sure, in the beginning–when it came out. But I think the
Internet is one of the most negative places in the world right now because people have the right to say whatever they want and they don’t take responsibility for their comments. I think that leads to a lot of negativity–lots of damage. There are no ramifications for their actions. I don’t know what will become of us since so many people are addicted to it. I hope we don’t become so disconnected that we no longer sit down and have lunch or dinner together and don’t communicate with other people. I have no time to spend on the Internet, nor do I want to. My life is so full with lots of other things. I don’t want to just send e-mails; I still thank people the old-fashioned way, with a card.

EI: You have always been outspoken about your emotional life. Lately, there have been reports about a suicide attempt in 1996 when you split from your first husband, David Justice. Rumor or truth?

HB: The thing about that is that I didn’t want to bring this up now. It is not relevant at this time–it had happened ten years ago. Then I talked about it because I thought I could help someone by shedding some light on it. When people talked about their unfortunate circumstances, they helped me, and I wanted to give that back. But when they came up with it lately, it was not significant anymore, even though they shaped it as if they’re reporting new news. But that’s the power of the media, and it’s unfortunate when they twist things around.

EI: Let’s stay with the rumors. It has been widely reported that you have diabetes. Are you still injecting yourself with insulin, and does the diseases affect you negatively?

HB: Diabetes, for me, is not something I’m afraid of anymore. The disease was a blessing in disguise. It gave me a new lease on life, so to speak. I took it seriously from the very start, when I was diagnosed with it. I knew I could beat it if I eat healthy, exercise and manage to control it every day. For me, it’s an every-day, breakfast, lunch and dinner affair. You can’t put anything into your body and not think about what it is. Now I don’t have to give myself shots anymore. They came up with a more gentle maintenance treatment. I feel great and I’m much healthier in my life than I’ve ever been. I think you can tell. When you eat well, your exterior can’t help but be reflective of that. I have more energy today than ever before. So no, it doesn’t affect me negatively.

EI: Are you happy these days? You should be, after getting a star on Hollywood Boulevard, being in love, and opening a hit movie!

HB: I’m the happiest I have ever been! I turned 40 recently, I got the star, and I have a movie coming out I’m really proud of! I also met a wonderful producer, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, who wants to do more movies with me!

EI: Was there anything difficult in doing the movie?

HB: Shooting out of order…and I was sometimes really confused, where we all were–who she was in that scene. I had to take a lot of notes and be very diligent about everything and know from moment to moment what to do.

EI: Did you have a saying with the casting?

HB: It was funny because when we were looking for the perfect cast for Harrison Hill, Bruce Willis’s name came up and I said, that would be great–and I can even ask him personally because he was my next-door neighbor at the time. I knew it would be great to do a movie together since we got along famously as neighbors. He would come out in his robe in front of my house. So I waited for him and handed him the script. He read it and said yes. It should always be that easy!

EI: There is third rumor around that needs clarification: You’re not cutting these beautiful locks off and shaving your head for the next movie, are you?

HB: Oh yes I do. This rumor is true. I haven’t done it yet, but the movie requires me to do it.

EI: Are you looking forward to it?

HB: No. [Laughs] You know, as women, we define ourselves by our hair. Your hair is not right, and you don’t feel right. I don’t care what color hair you have or how thick it is, you’ve got issues with your hair. In this movie, this woman has her head and now comes the question: how does she define herself; how does she deal with herself; how do other people deal with her? She must define herself, not externally–she must find the truth inside of her. It’s an important movie for women.

EI: Will you take a break after that movie so your hair can grow back?

HB: No, I probably will wear a wig for a while. I don’t want to run around bald. They have to go and see the movie if they want to see me bald.

EI: Is anything left you haven’t done in a movie?

HB: I want to do a romantic comedy–something light, because I’ve done a lot of drama. I want to be funny and silly for a change.

EI: Do you still have contact with your former step-daughter?

HB: No, but she’s doing fine.

EI: Do you want your own children?

HB: I do. I really do.

EI: Are you wearing Versace?

HB: No, I really don’t know what I’m wearing today, but it is not Versace.

EI: What about doing your new film, “Perfect Stranger”? When producer Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas said it wasn’t a typical Halle Berry role, what did you think?

HB: When she said that, I knew it was probably a project that I would love. I was determined to do films that you’d normally not see me in, but they have to be great at the same time. After reading it, I knew it was one of those risks and chances a lot of actors would be scared to take, but it was too good for me to pass up and it seemed so unlikely for me to even consider. I told Elaine, “I cant wait to start filming.”

EI: How would you describe “Perfect Stranger” (also starring Bruce Willis and Giovanni Ribisi)?

HB: I can say, with all honesty, that this is the ultimate suspense/thriller. It was also a very risky role for me to portray. I play an investigative journalist looking into the death of her good friend who meets an ad executive (Willis) that I don’t completely trust. In investigating this murder, I have to go into the darker side of the Internet, which becomes a very scary place. It is the kind of film that is going to really shock people, because I was freaked out doing it. You take a big chance by tackling a role like this, but that’s what makes this job worth doing. I’m too old to be doing movies that are considered safe for my career. But as “Monster’s Ball” proved to me, if you are not willing to put yourself out there and risk it all, don’t expect anything great in return. So I’m putting myself out there for this film, and it’s more than worth it.

EI: Why did you consider “Perfect Stranger” a risky film to star in?

HB: Learning myself in the character made it such a risky and such a big artistic chance for me. And I love taking those kind of chances, because it only makes me a better actress.

EI: Your character in “Perfect Stranger” is keeping a lot of secrets, isn’t she?

HB: Yeah, my character is an investigative journalist who is writing under a male pseudonym. She can’t get the respect at her job that she wants and that she deserves, so she writes under a male pseudonym. She’s the star of her newspaper. One night, though, a friend of hers gets murdered and she decides that she’s going to–through her journalism–avenge the death of her friend and figure it all out.

EI: Why does the Internet become such an important element in the story?

HB: Well, in order to find the reason her friend was murdered, she discovers that she has to go into the threatening and mysterious side of the Internet, where no one really is who they say they are and most of us don’t know is there. She ends up piddling around in this dark side and she realizes that the Internet was really the cause of her friend’s death, but she’s sure that Bruce’s character, the ad agency owner, is the person who murdered her friend and she tries to prove it. She sort of figures it all out, bit-by-bit, but it gets pretty racy, dangerous and terrifying at times.

EI: “Perfect Stranger” uses the Internet a lot. Would you call yourself an Internet junkie?

HB: I don’t know if I’m a junkie because I’m not sure what makes one a junkie. [Laughs] But I’m certainly into the Internet, and I certainly go online. And I do go into those rooms and see what’s going on. So, yeah, maybe I am a cyber-junkie. [Laughs]

EI: Why did you decide to start doing risky roles?

HB: I had just been in a canceled TV series (”Living Dolls”), so with all the offers I was getting, I felt like everything was finally going perfect in my career. Financially, I was doing great, but after a while, though, I began to notice I wasn’t being offered the real substantial, meaty roles.

EI: What did doing “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge” do for you?

HB: Doing that film, even if it meant turning down several massive salaries in order to make it, made me realize that if I wanted to be taken seriously as an actress, I couldn’t be afraid to take a gamble in the movies I chose.

EI: And “Monster’s Ball”?

HB: It knew what a big risk “Monster’s Ball” was for me, because “Monster’s Ball”–with that sex scene–I thought, “This can ruin my career, be the end of it, because it could be scathed and I could be toast.” When I won the Oscar for it, after that, I was never going to be afraid to take a role I really believed in ever again.

EI: What about deciding to do “Catwoman”?

HB: I thought if it didn’t work, it could be bad, but that if it did work, it could be great, and what it could do for women in film and women in the world is bigger than my fear of the risk. So I thought, “Risk it. What’s the worst that can happen?” Little did I know.

EI: If you weren’t acting, what would you be doing?

HB: I don’t know. Thank God I have this career, because I might be a bag lady. I don’t know. [Laughs] I wouldn’t look like this if I was a bag lady.

EI: Did you know that you wanted to act after doing “Jungle Fever”?

HB: Well, that was my very first movie role ever, so I didn’t know where that would take me. Early on in my career, though, I knew the importance of shedding my physical self and getting people to see past the physical. That’s always been a struggle in my career. I remember even when I was trying to get “Monster’s Ball” initially, the producer said, “A girl that looks like you isn’t suffering like this.” I said, “Have you heard anything about my life? Because what you look like never keeps anyone away from any hardship. That’s just not true.” I was told Spike Lee had the same problem with me while casting “Jungle Fever”, and I just thought, “What does a girl look like that’s on crack and strung out?” Finally, he said to me, “You don’t look like a crack head.” I said, “What does a crack head look like?” As far as I know, it affects anyone if you let it. I don’t understand that. So that’s sort of been the struggle of my career, even when I do a film like “Perfect Stranger”. People still think about me or envision me on the Revlon ads, and they sometimes think that I can’t play certain parts. They forget that I’m an actor, and with Revlon, that’s also a part that I’m playing.

EI: Do you have strong feelings about becoming a mom?

HB: More and more, it’s been on my mind. When I think of that, all I’m thinking about is hoping that something real will manifest itself in my life. How it will manifest, whether I have a child of my own or whether I’ll adopt, or however it will bring itself to me–I’m just hoping that it comes. That’s what I’m wanting, and that’s what I’m feeling as a woman and a person–that I need something much more meaningful in my life.

EI: Would you ever consider getting married again?

HB: Oh God no. Twice was enough and it felt like I had been through like, you know, hell! [Laughs]

EI: What’s it like to be a successful woman in a position where you have to pay alimony to your ex-husband instead of the other way around?

HB: [Laughs] That’s not good, especially when he cheats on you, like, 27 times. That’s not good.

EI: So is that one reason to never marry again?

HB: Never again. There’s that part of it, but also a big part of it too is that I don’t see the need anymore to feel validated. Like, I once thought you can’t have children if you’re not married. I believed that from some little seed that was planted in my head. I thought it would just be wrong, and now I realize that it’s not wrong. It wouldn’t be wrong. The most important thing is that I would be a good mother that was present and was there and does the best that I can for my child, even if I was alone. My mother was alone and raised me, and I think that I came out okay.

EI: Do you consider yourself a role model to young girls?

HB: I’ve always known that about this career. I feel really blessed…not to get too spiritual, but I feel really lucky and blessed that I get to have this career and make a living at it and do something that just feels like play and silliness, but to get to have a career. So I think that it’s really important to give back. I know many people resist being a role model, and I hear other actors say that they’re not role models, that parents are role models. In a perfect world that would be great, but that’s just not reality. Kids look to people that they identify with, and I’ve always taken that seriously, and I take it to heart to be the best that I can. I try to do positive things because I know that they’re watching, but I try not to let that compromise my sense of who I am at the same time. Through example, I try to teach kids, and the best thing to do is to be authentically who you are, and so I try to live my life in that way, and giving back in that way and in other ways too–like financially. However I can help certain situations, I think that’s a really big part of my existence here and my reason for being.

EI: You seem to be more happy these days. How are you able to smile and be care-free when you see so many negative or false tabloid reports about yourself?

HB: I’ve been in the business a long time now, and I’ve just developed that sort of duck-like skin and it rolls off of my back these days, which is a really empowered place to be. None of that stuff matters anymore, and I can sit here and say, “Truly it doesn’t matter anymore.” It’s really about me making decisions for my life that are best for me and my family and people that are important to me, and just realizing that no one really cares. They write that stuff and it’s like, “Does anyone really care about what’s really going on with Halle Berry?” No, no one, but Halle Berry really cares, but no one that’s not close to me really cares. It’s good fodder and people love to chit-chat and gossip.

EI: I understand that “X-Men: The Last Stand” had your most favorite storyline for your character, Storm. Was that a condition of coming back for a third installment of the franchise?

HB: I just wanted them to give Storm–not exactly more screen time–but if I’m going to be on for five minutes, then let Storm say something meaningful for five minutes and not just, “Come on, kids. Lets go. Lets fly the plane.” I really wanted to understand who she was, and I wanted that to be conveyed to the audience. The fans told me for four years straight that they wanted more, and I would always take the heat in public, out in life. So that was getting a bit much for me and so I’m glad that they gave her at least a little bit more to do.

EI: Do you think that there might be another “X-Men” film or a Storm spin-off? Are you worried about that?

HB: Not really, but my brain tells me that since the last one did so well and the fans really supported it and thought it was good, I would have to believe that Fox would say, “Maybe it would be good to do another one.”

EI: Hugh Jackman is doing a Wolverine movie and they are making a Magneto prequel, so would you be interested in a Storm spin-off?

HB: Probably not, no.

EI: Why?

HB: I have too many fans that say they don’t want me to do these movies anymore. [Laughs] Part of that is true. A lot of people ask me to do more drama–they want to see that and I wish it were that easy, but it’s really hard. But I don’t think that I’ll do this again in a spin-off because I do want to focus on other aspects of my career. There are other things that I really want to work on, and when you’re busy working on a movie, you almost lose that chunk of time. If you’re working a movie, you’re not able to focus on other things. I have a hard time reading other scripts when I’m working on a movie because I stay in the world that I’m creating, and “X-Men” is a big chunk out of our year. To do one of these movies it’s like six, seven, eight months out of your year, so it takes a lot of time away from you.

EI: Why don’t you do more dramas, like “Monster’s Ball” or “Perfect Stranger”?

HB: I hear that a lot, that people want me to do more drama, but it’s not that easy. I know that things have changed for women of color, but it’s still a struggle.

EI: Is it a color issue or more of a female issue?

HB: Color certainly compounds the problem. I mean, I hear that. It’s changing. I would say that today it’s better, but it’s still a tough nut to crack. It’s tough to find a way to change people’s minds. That’s what I would change. I would get rid of racism.

EI: Do you think you’ll suffer from the infamous Oscar winner’s curse? Have you had trouble finding any good projects that might score you another one?

HB: Well, you know what? I didn’t even try because I didn’t want to suffer from the Oscar curse, and people have wanted me to try and people have said, “Why haven’t you done another one?” I thought, “Well, because I did ‘Monster’s Ball’ and I won the Oscar, and I might never win another one in my life, and that’s not really my goal, to stack up the Oscars or try and stack them up.” I want to do roles that are fun and challenging and try different things, and I don’t want to keep doing ‘Monster’s Ball’ over and over and over to get an award. So when you approach your career that way, it’ll lead me down some paths that will work and be great and lead me down some paths that won’t, but I want to keep doing my career the way that I was doing it when that Oscar came along, and it wasn’t by manipulating or manufacturing awards. It was more instinctual and about doing what felt right and always, always daring to try something different, and if it works, it works. If it doesn’t, fine.

EI: How did winning the Oscar change your career?

HB: There are still many issues that need to be addressed in this industry. I used to joke, saying, “Since I won, maybe God would come and drop all of these great scripts on my door now,” but that doesn’t happen for anyone. So winning an award like that, even though you have a moment and the industry perceives you differently now, you still have to take that Oscar and make it what you want it to be. You have to use that the way that you need to use it. If you just say that you have it and it’s all going to come to you, you’re fooling yourself. I mean, how many Oscar members get that?

EI: You’re next film is “Things We Lost In The Fire”. What’s after that?

HB: I’m glad that you should ask. [Laughs] I’ve got a project that I’m producing for Alicia Keys called “Composition in Black and White”. It’s about a child pianist in the ’40s. She’s going to be awesome in it. She’ll be in it, but I’m not in it. There is another one called “Nappily Ever After” that I will be in, and there is one called “Class Act” that I’m producing. It’s a true story.

EI: What is “Class Act” about?

HB: “Class Act” is a true story about a woman named Tierney Cahill. I don’t know if you’ve heard of her, but she was a woman who actually decided to run for Congress. She didn’t win, but she changed lives. She is a teacher and she worked at this school where the children had all this apathy, and all the programs were being cut and the children wanted a change. She told them that they should all write letters to the Congressmen, and they did, to no avail. So finally, the students convince her to run because they said that she’s always talking about making a difference, so they tell her to do something. She said, “Okay, I will. How about if I run?” It’s a true story. So she runs and asks them all to help her, and they become her campaign managers, and it’s amazing how far she got. She got the Democratic nomination and she ended up not winning. In the end, though, she did win, because Congressman were then forced to look at the issues at her school. It ends with the guy showing up at the school and making a difference. So it’s like a wonderful, feel-good family movie.

EI: In retrospect, what do you remember the most about making “Catwoman”?

HB: I had fun making it. I had fun making fun of it, and I have fun, you know, talking about it even still. It’s not really that much of a sore spot in my career to me. It’s really just part of the journey, part of the learning, part of the risk. It signifies a risk, and that makes me feel good because you have to keep taking those risks.