Four years before “Iron Man” rewrote the whole superhero film genre, Warner Bros. was trying its best to launch a new superhero franchise with 2004’s “Catwoman.” Unfortunately, that film went over like a wet fart, earning scathing reviews for its star Halle Berry. Time heals all wounds, though, right? 20 years later, can we look back at “Catwoman” with a little love? Or at least some empathy?
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In a recent oral history over at EW, Halle Berry spoke quite a bit about one of the biggest flops of her career, “Catwoman.” For those who don’t remember, back in 2004, Warner Bros. was really trying to make a new superhero franchise with Berry in the lead. The problem is the studio took Catwoman, removed all the Batman bits from it, and tried to sell it to fans. As you might expect, people weren’t happy. Not just critics, either. Fans were complaining about how terrible the film is. Now, 20 years later, the film is often seen as one of the biggest missteps in superhero film history.
And Berry understands this. In fact, she had reservations back in the day, but she wasn’t as much of a star as she is now and couldn’t push back.
“I always thought the idea of Catwoman saving women from a face cream felt a bit soft,” admitted Berry. “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.”
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As mentioned, the film was released and immediately bombed. The film also went on to earn four Razzie awards, including Worst Picture. But that’s where the other part of this story happened. For as bad as people trashed “Catwoman,” Berry decided to take it on the chin and actually show up to the Razzies and admit the film was less-than-stellar.
“I didn’t love [the backlash],” she explained. “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. I didn’t want to be casual about it, but I went and collected that Razzie, laughed at myself, and kept it moving. It didn’t derail me because I’ve fought as a Black woman my whole life. 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.”
She added, “The studio knew what I was going to do at the Razzies. I told them I wanted to take the piss out of it and laugh at it. I don’t think it’s a God-awful film, but I was at the Razzies, so I had to do what they do; I shit on it because they shit on it! I wrote [that speech] within an inch of my life. I put a lot of thought into how I could do it in a fun way and let everyone know I didn’t take it that seriously. You can never take away my Oscar, no matter how bad you bash me! If you say I earned it, I’ll take this, too.”
What’s interesting is that Berry is right. When people think of the actress and her career, they’re much more inclined to talk about her Oscar win than her Razzies. So, it would seem that time does heal all wounds, and who knows, maybe a new generation will embrace “Catwoman?”
You can actually watch Berry accept her Razzie award below: