Halle Berry Wants To Direct A Catwoman Remake
In an interview with Jake Hamilton, renowned actor Halle Berry stated that she would love to direct "Catwoman." For context, Berry was discussing her directorial debut "Bruised" with Hamilton and how her own portrayal of Catwoman back in 2004 was a complete flop. We're talking 9% on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 3.1 out of 10 kind of flop. Directed by Jean-Christophe "Pitof" Comar, the film won several Raspberry Awards including Worst Picture, Worst Actress, Worst Director, and Worst Screenplay. It was also featured on Roger Ebert's list of most hated films. However, Halle's turn at donning a black leather costume and cat mask led to the highest grossing female-led superhero film until the release of "Wonder Woman" in 2017.
With more and more female superhero characters on screen and women taking the lead behind the camera, Berry wants to crack the whip again, but this time as a director. She told Hamilton:
"I wish I could go back and reimagine Catwoman and redo that. Have a redo on that, now knowing what I know [about directing]. I would have Catwoman saving the world like most male superheroes do, and not just saving women from their faces cracking off. I would make the stakes a lot higher, and I think make it more inclusive of both men and women."
The reference to "faces cracking off" is from Berry's portrayal as Patience Phillips, a woman who works for a beauty company that is set to release a new line of anti-aging cream with dire side effects. Despite being based on the DC Comics character, the 2004 film had no connection to the "Batman" universe. If you're like me and associate Catwoman with Michelle Pfeiffer in "Batman Returns," then you're in for a very rude awakening with Pitof's version. But hey, you live and you learn. Maybe a new take from Berry behind the scenes isn't such a bad idea.
Bring Out The Claws
There have been several adaptations of DC's Catwoman (aka Selina Kyle) over time and most recently it was announced that Zoë Kravitz will portray the character in the upcoming 2022 film "The Batman" alongside Robert Pattinson, Colin Farrell, and Paul Dano. The majority of live-action adaptations of comics are directed by men, so it's always refreshing to have superheroes and villains portrayed through a female lens. There are the exceptions like director Lauren Montgomery and her long list of animated adaptations such as 2009's "Wonder Woman," "Superman: Doomsday," and "Batman: Year One." Rachel Talalay's "Tank Girl" is a cult classic and most recently we've seen Cate Shortland tackle "Black Widow," Cathy Yan direct "Birds of Prey," and now Chloé Zhao take on "Eternals."
Berry has an impressive film resume spanning back several decades, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in "Monster's Ball," becoming the first and only African-American woman to have won the award. I would welcome her own depiction on Catwoman but would definitely be more interested in adhering to Selina Kyle's story. The storyline deviation from the comics back in 2004 was pretty terrible. (Although, to be fair, a lot of things were pretty terrible in the early 2000s.) It'd be really cool to have more female writers involved as well. I'm all about more female involvement within the comic world as well as higher stakes in writing, so I'm here for this.